‘Juncker Package’ includes ’20 energy projects’ worth €2.17bn

Greece has chosen forty-two projects worth a total of 5.6 billion euros for induction into the so-called “Juncker Package”, or European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the Economy, Development and Tourism Minister Giorgos Stathakis noted in Parliament today, responding to questions from MPs of opposition parties.

“We are trying to identify areas and projects that can be integrated and have pre-selected forty-two projects, of which eighteen purely concern the private-sector and the remainder involve private and public sector collaboration,” the minister remarked.

Of the forty-two projects earmarked by Greek officials for EFSI inclusion, twenty concern the energy sector and their estimated budgets total 2.17 billion euros.

These include the submarine power interconnection of Crete with the Peloponnese; an LNG terminal in Alexandroupoli, northeastern Greece, which has already been classified as an EU Project of Common Interest (PCI), enabling EU funding; hybrid power station; small hydropower stations; utilization of geothermal energy; development of distribution networks in northern and mainland Greece; as well as development of 190 small wind-energy facilities belonging to 120 investors.

The minister pointed out that the “Juncker Package” is not planned to offer immediate financing but is a “mechanism for support of private-sector projects through provision of guarantees and low inrerest rates.”