Natural gas has become a major source of energy for EU consumers. However, the cost of this gas is substantially higher in the countries of South-East Europe than in the rest of the EU. This is due to an effective monopoly in the supply of gas to the countries of the region, dating from before their EU accession. This gas interconnector project is a major component of a new supply route across the region, wholly within EU Member State territories. Creating a more competitive gas supply market will not only cut energy costs for households, but will reduce costs for all types of manufacturing and service businesses, making them more internationally competitive. The project will also improve the security of energy supply in South-East Europe, which currently relies on a single foreign source of imported gas and will therefore benefit from the diversification of the available energy supply promoted by the project.

The strategic importance of this project is underlined by the European Commission’s decision to include it in the list of Projects of Common Interest in 2015, but also by the award of a Structural Funds grant of 35% of the project cost under the Connecting Europe Facility.