83310 - The East Med Pipeline and Strategy
N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Athina Kehagias
The East Med pipeline is not merely an issue concerning energy exclusively. The East Med pipeline is first of all a matter of high strategy and not only for Greece and Cyprus, but for all the countries of the Southeastern Mediterranean region. It is on account of that after all, that the idea of the East Med Gas Forum was born, which constitutes a strong alliance. It is additionally an interconnection between the European Union, NATO and the Southeast Mediterranean. All those who observe the East Med pipeline merely commercially and financially lack strategic thinking. They don’t see the geostrategically existing difference between a pipeline of this range and a simple transport through an LNG vessel. The pipeline constitutes a geostrategic added value which ought to be utilized geopolitically. Therefore those who do not see it right now, ought to open their eyes in order to see the future, or else they will be trapped in a backward thinking of the present. The East Med natural gas pipeline constitutes also a weapon in the event of an energean crisis, because even if one that is hostile toward one of the countries which will utilize it, they will have to think twice when deciding to make an energean embargo. Greece and Cyprus need the East Med pipeline in order to grow their alliance network, so as to upgrade their position and their role to become more dynamic. Period.