CROATIA: Environmentalists Protest Ahead of Meeting on Druzba Adria Project

Helene Ryding — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 01:32:00 GMT

2005-10-27 13:12:47

Ahead of a session of the commission in charge of evaluating the environmental impact of the Druzba Adria project, some 50 member of the committee for the protection of the Adriatic peacefully protested against the project.

The agreement on the Druzba Adria project, which was signed by the previous government, envisages the transport of oil from Russia via six countries to the port of Omisalj on the northern Adriatic island of Krk. The Zagreb Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering and the Oceanography Institute from Split have drawn up a study on the environmental effects of the project.

"Tourism is our oil -- We don't need Druzba Adria", "Save the Adriatic pearl". "Oil or tourism -- that is the question", read some of the banners which the protesters held outside Zagreb's panorama hotel where member of the commission for evaluating the environmental impact of the Druzba Adria project.

The committee for the protection of the Adriatic gathers nongovernmental organisations for environmental protection and ecological awareness.

Source: HINA

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REGION: South Eastern Europe Energy Community Treaty Signed

Helene Ryding — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 01:27:00 GMT

2005-10-26 13:20:58

Eight Balkan countries will join forces in Athens with the European Union today to establish a single regulatory framework for transporting energy in Southeastern Europe, in a bid to advance the region’s position on the world power map.
A treaty was signed by British Trade and Industry Minister Alan Johnson on behalf of the EU and by ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey.

It will help ensure that countries in the region adopt EU single market regulations on energy regarding petrol, natural gas and electricity markets.

Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas described the treaty, which Greece also signed, as an historic agreement that will help unify the energy sectors. “The signing of this treaty creates new conditions for the economy, peace, stability and security in the wider region,” Sioufas said.

The treaty also aims at creating a stable regulatory environment that will boost energy investment in the region.

The World Bank has estimated that 21 billion euros will be poured into energy investments in the region because of the pact. The unification process has also drawn the interest of countries that are not directly part of it.

According to the Development Ministry, the United States and Canada have also given financial support to the treaty. Greece has played a central role in the issue as the country pushes ahead with plans to develop its link with different energy grids.
Apart from agreeing to run a natural gas pipeline from Turkey to Greece, which will then go on to Italy, the government has also signed a deal for a pipeline to carry Russian oil through Bulgaria to northern Greece.