Turkey links pipeline to EU membership talks

By Tony Barber in Brussels

Published: January 19 2009 20:20 | Last updated: January 19 2009 20:20

Turkey signalled today it might withhold support from the Nabucco gas pipeline, a project viewed as central to Europe’s drive for energy security, unless the European Union unblocked the energy section of Turkey’s EU membership talks.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, delivered the warning at a time when Europe’s energy worries have never been higher, with a Russian-Ukrainian dispute depriving Europe of Russian gas supplies for almost two weeks so far this winter.

Mr Erdogan was speaking at a think-tank conference in Brussels, where he was making his first visit to EU headquarters since 2004 in an attempt to inject fresh life into Turkey’s EU membership bid.

“If we are faced with a situation where the energy chapter is blocked, we would of course review our position,” Mr Erdogan said, referring to Nabucco, a planned 3,300km-long pipeline intended to transport gas from the Caspian Sea and central Asia through Turkey to Europe.

Since it started its EU membership talks in October 2005, Turkey has opened 10 of the 35 chapters, or policy areas, that must be completed before a country can enter the bloc. However, the EU froze eight chapters in 2006, citing Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to vessels and aircraft from the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government of Cyprus.

In addition, to the dismay of EU member states sympathetic to Turkey, Cyprus is blocking the start of talks on the energy section of Turkey’s accession negotiations.

José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, said after talks with Mr Erdogan today that European and Turkish energy security was too important to be held hostage by Turkey’s EU membership bid.

“We should not link the question of energy security to a specific point we’re dealing with in the accession negotiations,” Mr Barroso said. “At the Commission we’re doing everything we can to unblock every chapter, including the energy chapter.”

Mr Erdogan, speaking with Mr Barroso at his side, appeared to soften his warning on Nabucco without withdrawing it. “The Nabucco project is very important. We are aware of our responsibilities,” he said.

Question marks hang over Nabucco, because construction of the pipeline, due to be completed by 2014, has not begun and the cost is estimated at €8bn ($10.5bn, £7.2bn), up from €5bn when it was first proposed.

Moreover, it remains doubtful that the countries identified by the EU as potential suppliers have enough gas to provide Europe with the planned 31bn cubic metres a year.