Expert: SGC reducing dependence of South-Eastern Europe on energy from Russia

The Southern Gas Corridor is reducing the dependence of the countries of South-Eastern Europe on energy supplies from Russia, Damjan Krnjevic, former adviser to the president of Serbia, director of political research, analysis and publications at the Institute for Development and Diplomacy of the ADA University, told Report.

“The Southern Gas Corridor was planned many years ago and began to operate in full at the end of 2020,” the expert reminded.

He noted that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the diversification of energy supplies has become a strategic imperative for the EU.

“This means that the role of the Southern Gas Corridor has increased even more. That is why its capacity will be at least doubled,” he said, adding that Azerbaijan would benefit from such a decision by Brussels.

According to Krnjevic, the benefits of the SGC project are both geo-economic and geopolitical in nature: when the country’s position as an integral part of the bloc’s energy diversification strategy rises, this affects many other aspects of bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan. For example, such as the Middle Corridor, the process of peaceful settlement and normalization of relations with Armenia, and so on.

The expert emphasized that before that Brussels had never been actively involved in the affairs of the South Caucasus and so impartial in its approach to this region.

“In the current era, the first is combined with the second. And this is strategically beneficial for Azerbaijan as long as the country can guarantee the continuation of such a situation,” he added.

“But I think that the probability of any serious changes is quite small, because President Aliyev demonstrates again and again that he knows what he is doing,” Damjan Krnjevic concluded.