ENERGY: COMMISSION PUTS UP ECU 6.5 MILLION FOR SEABED CABLES.

Summary: Providing a boost to trans-European energy networks, the European Commission decided on December 16 to contribute a total of ECU 6.535 million to the financing of two high-voltage, direct current subsea cables. The Sweden-to-Poland route will get ECU 2.32 million and the Netherlands-to-Norway link will receive 4.215 million. The cash injection marks a precedent as Community funding for TENs in the energy sector has been restricted to feasibility studies so far.

The Sweden-Poland project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year 2000, while the Netherlands-Norway project should be completed by October 2001. Both projects were singled out as in the TEN guidelines decision in 1994 and have already benefited from the TEN energy budget line for the co-financing of feasibility studies in 1995, 1996 and 1997. Capital contributions are restricted, according to the Financial Regulation for the TENs (Regulation 2236/95/EC), to exceptional circumstances in the realm of energy...