Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – Representatives of Eco-Team, together with 46 civil society organizations, called on the governments of the Western Balkan countries to resist pressure and abandon plans to build gas infrastructure and gas-fired power plants.

In a joint statement, they warned that such plans are not aligned with climate and energy as well as decarbonization goals, and that they create dependence on imported fossil fuels. 

Eco-Team recalled that governments in the Western Balkans have for several years been promoting cooperation with the United States (US) regarding the implementation of several gas projects. 

The most prominently communicated projects include the interconnector between Greece and North Macedonia, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Montenegro and Albania, as well as the southern gas interconnection project between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Eco-Team also announced that several agreements are expected to be signed at the Three Seas Initiative summit, which begins tomorrow in Dubrovnik.

“Although Montenegro’s Spatial Plan does not foresee the construction of an LNG terminal or accompanying gas-fired power plants, the Government, after its adoption, signed a memorandum with the Japanese company JERA on the preparation of a feasibility study for an LNG terminal and gas power plants in several Montenegrin municipalities,” the statement said.

Eco-Team added that citizens do not support this type of infrastructure, which is confirmed by recent opposition from civil society and residents of the municipality of Bar, who oppose plans related to the construction of an LNG terminal in Bar as part of arrangements with the US.