Poland and Slovakia are both very much in support of the idea of a north-south gas pipeline, announced Slovak PM Iveta Radicova, following her meeting with Polish PM Donald Tusk on Friday 23 July.
After Poland expressed its full support for the project, Radicova said: “They’re ready to join us in the process … I hope we’ve made a huge step forward”. Radicova feels a firm decision should be taken as soon as possible so that the country doesn’t have to face another gas crisis like the one caused by the interruption of Russian gas supplies in January of last year.
Another benefit will be the negotiation position of Slovakia, which could mean fewer complications in negotiations and also a better purchasing price of gas from Russia, which has almost a monopoly on supplies to Slovakia.
The pipeline would create a connection from Poland to Hungary via Slovakia, which then opens up the way for receiving gas from other suppliers from the south and the north, including liquid petroleum gas from the planned terminals in Poland and Croatia. No timeline has been set for the project as yet, though.