Today (12.11.2025) in Brussels the Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrouthe Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry of the Republic of Cyprus, George Papanastasiou, and the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, Nikos Tsafos, with the European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jorgensen.
Specifically, the Minister of Energy and Environment, Stavros Papastavrou, said: “We met today with my Cypriot counterpart, Mr. Papanastasiou, and Deputy Minister Mr. Tsafos, with the European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jorgensen. We informed him about the important agreements that were decided last week in Athens with the American Ministers. Agreements that lead to Europe’s independence from Russian natural gas and the shift to American gas, with Greece as the main gateway.”
The Minister of Energy and Environment continued by saying: “We also discussed the results of the 3+1 initiative that we had with the Cypriot Minister and the Energy Ministers of the United States and Israel. We underlined the need to update the financial and technical elements of the electrical interconnection between Cyprus and Greece, as stated a few hours ago by the Greek Prime Minister and the Cypriot President, in view of the potential investment interest. Finally, we highlighted the need for Europe to move quickly and strengthen interconnection projects, so as to achieve further de-escalation of the energy price for households and businesses.”
“Today, with the Greek Minister of Energy and the Deputy Minister of Energy of Greece, we had a meeting with the European Energy Commissioner. We have come to the conclusion that the cross-border project must undergo an update, even in the financial part. The most important parameter of this study is to attract strong investors, who will have the possibility to implement the project, so that the challenges surrounding the financial and possibly also the technical part are sustainable”, emphasized the Minister of Energy of Cyprus Giorgos Papanastasiou.
“With this logic, we are moving in the direction of the specific study, so as to integrate the techno-economic part in the new environment, which aims to find strong players and funds that will be able to financially strengthen the project.
Beyond that, I would like to refer to the upcoming Cyprus Presidency of the European Union. One of our priorities will be cross-border projects and energy networks, as well as the protection of energy infrastructure and ongoing projects, such as the Great Interconnector project.
Finally, I would like to thank my Greek counterpart and the Deputy Minister for the effort and direction of the implementation of a very important project, which will end the energy isolation of the Republic of Cyprus — the last EU member state not connected to the European grid.
The 3+1 dimension, which the friendly Minister mentioned, is particularly important, as the now zero supply of Russian natural gas provides solutions through the vertical corridor, which starts from Alexandroupoli and reaches Ukraine, through other countries.
The Republic of Cyprus can contribute through the fields under development; soon there will be the first natural gas on the surface, which will be liquefied through Egypt. Thus, the entry point in the direction of the Vertical Corridor can also be Cypriot natural gas,” said Mr. Papanastasiou.