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The Baltic Interconnection Plan agreement was signed in Brussels
17.06.2009
State Chancellery of the Republic of Estonia 17.06.2009
Brussels, 17 June 2009 – Today, the heads of government from eight Baltic Sea countries and the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Baltic Interconnection Plan in Brussels.
The signing of the memorandum launches an action plan, the main objective of which is an integrated and efficient energy market in the Baltic Sea region and joining the Baltic States with the energy market of the European Union.
“A signature on this memorandum reflects the unanimity, on which the work of the Commission and the Member States has been based on,” said Barroso. “We have agreed on several steps, which will improve energy security in the Baltic Sea region.”
Andrus Ansip, who signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the Estonian government, expressed his gratitude to the European Commission for the work done in preparing the Baltic Interconnection Plan.
“This is a very useful document, on the basis of which we can constructively move on with decreasing the energy isolation of the Baltic States,” said Ansip.
According to Ansip, the action plan is important for Estonia because of the partial opening of the electricity market in 2010, establishing Estlink 2 between Estonia and Finland, and also because of the further research concerning the possibilities of establishing gas interconnection pipelines between the countries.
The idea of the Baltic Interconnection Plan was born at a similar dinner held in October of last year, prior to the European Council meeting, organised by the president of the European Commission. For the implementation of the idea, a high-level working group was established, which consisted of the representatives from the Baltic States, the Nordic Countries, Poland, Germany and the European Commission.
The implementation of the Baltic Interconnection Plan will be monitored by the European Commission. The first report on its performance will be submitted in December of this year.
 
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