Brussels eyes political deal on Cretan link

The European Commission expects to see a political solution to the issue of the power interconnection of Crete with Attica next week.

Commission sources anticipate a decision during a planned meeting between Energy Commissioner Arias Canete with Greece's Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis and his Cypriot counterpart, Giorgos Lakkotrypis, paving the way for the Crete linkup to proceed in the context of the international connection with Cyprus and Israel, designed as a Project of Common Interest (PCI).

Brussels believes the Crete part of the project is at a more mature phase than that of Cyprus and Israel, as well as that the technical standards will need to be agreed in advance.

A Commission official said that the impasse on a staff level among the three sides can be broken at the political level, but stressed that the project cannot proceed without consultation,...