There is a full understanding and a framework agreement between Greece and Cyprus regarding the electricity connection project (GSI), President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Sunday, stressing, also, the recent agreement between himself and the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on how to proceed on this issue.
The President, who was invited to asked to comment on a local newspaper publication which said that the Greek Independent Power Transmission Operator, filed an objection against a decision taken by the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA), also stressed that the government supports “only the interests of the Cypriot people’ and cannot be blackmailed “through letters of paid notices.”
‘I should note that for this specific project there is full understanding and a framework agreement between the Greek and Cypriot Governments. I should also mention that recently in New York we agreed with the Greek Prime Minister on how to proceed in a very concrete way, and a related announcement was even issued,’ he noted.
Responding to a comment that a major shareholder of the IPTO is the Greek Government, the President of the Republic said that it is not the Greek Government that decides on the letters sent by IPTO, and that there is a framework agreed with the Greek government on how the project proceeds, the obligations of each party, while recalling the recent joint announcement by the Greek Prime Minister and himself following their meeting in New York.
Later on, the IPTO issued a press release, categorically denying information published by “Phileleftheros” newspaper.
“The IPTO recognizes and claims only the agreed first installment of pound 25 million for 2025, and nothing more concerning the project’s investment expenditures (capex). It denies the arbitrary and unverified information in the report suggesting an immediate claim of pound 251 million, which is part of the project’s total pound 1.9 billion, and which is expected to be recovered over the 35-year regulatory depreciation period”, the press release read.
It further noted that the reason it requested a revision of the regulator’s decision, was that it did not acknowledge the expenses the Operator has paid to date, despite the evidence submitted and the fact that the Greek regulatory authority has acknowledged them. Specifically, CERA only acknowledged an amount of pound 82 million, compared to approximately pound 251 million, which, according to IPTO, constitutes the verified investment expenditures to date, the press release said.