Donna Hatzioannou
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 12 – DECEMBER 2014
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The high-stakes yearlong negotiation’s marathon focused on the controversial Iran’s nuclear program ended in an epic fail. The collapse was made ever more conspicuous by the clumsy attempts of all involved to put on brave faces. Yet, the fact is undeniable: the top-level talks between Iran and P5 + 1 (Germany) have missed the target date of 24 November to conclude a comprehensive agreement.
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The results of November’s presidential elections in Romania bring up the question: is it an earthquake? After more than 2 decades of putting at the top of the state leaders who were part and parcel of the local political culture, Romanians have chosen this time an alien as their President: Klaus Ioannis comes from an ethnic and religious minority. What a strange choice for this basically monoethnic and monoreligious society.
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There is no more State in Libya. From a status of a formally united country with weak central authorities and squabbling between armed militias it has de-facto split in two parts with rival Governments and Parliaments which are still not controlling their respective zones.
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In the wake of the announcement that Gazprom-propelled South Stream project has been death-knelled by its makers, namely Gazprom, Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov went on the attack. Being understandably offended by the reference to Bulgaria as the one and only stumbling block, PM Borisov kept reiterating in the aftermath of the shocking retreat by the Russians: “We are for South Stream, we want South Stream, in compliance with EU rules”. He added emphatically: “It depends on Russia: if it accepts TEP, we can start today building South Stream.”
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The Adriatic Sea is becoming the scene of a “gold rush” for possible oil and gas offshore resources. These reserves are not huge from a global perspective but they would fit well to cover local energy consumption. However, the riparian countries have strikingly different approaches to the problem of how to capitalize on the off-shore hydrocarbon riches. Croatia, Italy and Montenegro are those mainly concerned.
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Nothing is written yet. However, South European energy landscape seems to have entered into another phase of uncertainty flavoured with “pie in the sky” illusions. During the official visit to Ankara on 1 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin tacitly admitted there is not a chance his loyal energy giant, Gazprom can proceed with implementing the South Stream project with a blatant disregard of the EU regulations, namely the Third Energy Package (TEP).
