Greece Needs No EU Approval to Become Gas Hub - Energy Minister

Greece does not need the European Union's permission to become a gas hub, the country's Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis told Sputnik on Friday.

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik), Anna Liatsou — Moscow and Athens on Friday signed a memorandum on the extension of the Turkish Stream, a natural gas pipeline expected to run from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea, through the Greek territory.

"We don’t need anyone to give us the right to become one [a gas hub]. We’re not going to ask third parties to allow us to do it. Greece has the right to its own actions and its independent diversified energy policy," Lafazanis said.

The minister added that Greece is a "diversified hub, which could supply the natural gas to all the European countries that need it."

The Turkish Stream is set to replace the canceled South Stream pipeline project. Russia scrapped the latter due to the European Commission's "non-constructive" stance on the matter.

The Turkish Stream pipeline was proposed by Russia in December 2014. It is expected to run across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey. The pipeline will run from Russia to Turkey across the Black Sea, with a gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border, from where it is planned to continue through Greece to southern Europe.