Expert Says EU Is Leaning Towards Favoring Finland in LNG Decision
Commentator Endel Lippmaa, a physicist by training, said in an interview today that by agreeing to leave the decision up to the European Commission, Estonia will effectively surrender its bid for a planned LNG terminal to Finland.
“Finland has the required economic adeptness and their dependence on Russian gas is the greatest,” Lippmaa told Eesti Ekspress.
“It would be more useful for us to come to a friendly agreement with the Finns, perhaps getting some work for the construction workers in the terminal and pipeline construction [...] Let's not forget that Estonia can store at least some of gas reserves in Latvia's underground facilities. Finland does not even have such storage facilities," Lippmaa said.
Unable to come to an agreement over which country should get the planned new LNG terminal, Estonia and Finland on Monday requested that the European Commission conduct an independent assessment.