Although Gazprom has not bought the Greek gas company DEPA, Russia’s interests have not lost much because the country has secured (at least temporarily) an obedient government in neighbouring Bulgaria. This is the most common opinion of the readers of GRReporter as shown by our poll in which we asked if you were surprised that Russia’s energy interests had withdrawn from Greece. More than half of the readers of the Greek version of our website and a third of our followers in the Bulgarian and English versions share this opinion.
The Greek gas company constituted one of the most important sales that the government should have completed in 2013 under the privatization programme. The sudden withdrawal of the offer of Gazprom, which was the most probable candidate-new owner, gave rise to a series of reactions and was the cause of the obvious annoyance of the government. The failure of the deal has been somewhat offset by choosing the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline to the rival Nabucco project to transport Azeri gas from Azerbaijan to Western Europe.
The second most popular opinion is that it is a matter of time before Russia’s energy interests find a new door to Greece. It is supported by less than 20% of voters in the Bulgarian version of GRReporter, one-fifth of our Greek readers and one-fifth of the poll respondents in the English version. These expectations are not likely to materialize because, a few days ago, it became clear that Azerbaijani Socar would purchase DEPA’s subsidiary, DESFA (the gas transmission system operator in the country). This means that the other door through which Gazprom could enter Greece is also closed for Russia and it seems that, at least for now, there are no other opportunities for entering the Greek gas market.
The failure of the deal is a loss to Russia because the location of Greece is strategic in geopolitical terms. This is the view that ranks third. Only 5% of respondents in Bulgaria share it, and 14% and 15% of the readers of the Greek and English version of our website respectively.
It is striking that no one in the Greek poll supports the claim that Brussels has saved Athens from the tentacles of Gazprom and Putin. However, 28% of the votes in the Bulgarian version of our website and 12% of respondents in its English version agree with it.
The poll shows that the majority of people are not surprised by the withdrawal of Gazprom from the deal for DEPA. The option the Greek government was surprised not to speak of everybody else has been preferred by only 6% of voters in the English version of the website, 10% of Greek respondents and 16% of Bulgarian readers.
Thank you for your support and we would like to invite you to vote in our new poll What do you expect from #DANSwithme protests in Bulgaria?
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
