Energy Minister Giorgos Papanastasiou disclosed the key points in a letter sent by the EU energy funding mechanism - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) - on September 22, regarding the return of €67.2 million disbursed for the Vasiliko LNG import project.
Three major irregularities
According to Papanastasiou, the EU found three irregularities in the Vasiliko project. The first involved non-compliance with award qualification criteria.
The second irregularity concerned incorret weighting criteria applied for technical evaluation, which saw the score being lower than the the permissible threshold.
The third irregularity encapsulates the other two, as it refers to the final bilateral agreement, which given the irregularities above, made it ineligible for European funding.
Speaking on Politis Radio 107.6-97.6, on the Morning Review show, the energy minister reiterated his position that the blame lies with the previous Nicos Anastasiades administration which handled the initial phase of the project. "The current government took all possible action to bring the work back into operation," he stressed.
"The only mistake this administration made on the Vasiliko terminal is a delay in launching an independent investigation into the situation it inherited," Papanastasiou said.
He claimed there was misinformation in regard to the revoking of EU funding and that, if necessary, the letter will be made public for the sake of transparency.
Cabinet Reshuffle
The Energy Minister commented on reports about his possible departure in the next reshuffle, sending a very clear message.
"Many would be happy to see me go, but the decision lies exclusively with the President and I will respect it," he noted.
Regardless of what may happen, Papanastasiou said he will continue to focus on the implementation of ongoing infrastructure work, namely Vasiliko and the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI).