EuroAsia Still on PCI List

The EuroAsia Interconnector, the Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity link remains on the official list of European projects of common interest (PCI) making it eligible to receive some €300 mln in EU grants for the Crete-Attica sector of the cable.

The EuroAsia Interconnector remains committed to the timely implementation of the project, as submitted to the European Commission, with the Crete-Attica interconnector commissioned in June 2022 and the Crete-Cyprus Interconnector in December 2023, ending the energy isolation of Crete, and Cyprus, the last EU member state not interconnected to the European electricity grid.

The European Commission’s Enhanced Surveillance Report for Greece (June 2019) specific reference to the EuroAsia Interconnector: “Whilst the progress made with the implementation of Crete’s interconnection to the Peloponnese is positive news, the uncertainty about the status of the Attica-Crete interconnection continued."

The overall project, linking Attica, Crete, Cyprus and Israel, remains on the list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) for now; thus being eligible for EU funding (approximately EUR 300 million to be allocated to this project), until the formal adoption of the 4th PCI list, it pointed out.

However, the electricity transmission operator (ADMIE) decided to start implementing the Attica-Crete segment as a national competitive project and Greece did not support the inclusion of the project in the 4th PCI list, therefore rendering it ineligible for grants under the Connecting Europe Facility.

"Continued support by the authorities of the PCI status of the project beyond 2019 could allow taking full advantage of the benefits deriving from the TEN-E Regulation, such as eligibility for applying for grants under the Connecting Europe Facility," it said.