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Italian Rai 3TV channel’s journalistPaolo Mondani reports about Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project designed to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan to Italy in his program dedicated to Azerbaijan’s so-called “Caviar diplomacy.”

The reporter pays special attention to several significant dates. On January23,2013, German deputy of the council of Europe, Christoph Strässer’s report on 85 Azerbaijani political prisoners was vetoed during the voting in PACE. On January 28, 2013, the European Commission supported the construction of TAP pipeline. On August 11 of the same year, the Azerbaijani president IlhamAliyev and then head of the Italian government Enrico Lettasigned an agreement on the energy pipeline.

“Vetoing my report preserved Azerbaijan’s reputation, and when the gas transportation was discussed, there was nothing to find fault with,”Strässer notes.

Accordingtotheinformation, in 2013, LuigiVitali, ChairoftheItalianparliamentarydelegationtoPACE, and Italian politician Luca Volontè, former head of the European People's Party faction in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe famous for his proazerbaijani lobbying activity, contributed to the realization of TAP project in every possible way. Besides, the Azerbaijani government financed the renovation of the Roman catacombs. Mondani highlights that it was a good deal.

Gas transportation from Baku to the Italian city San Foca will cost $45 billion. Italy’s State expenditureis still kept a secret. According to the plan, in 2020, the Azerbaijani gas, which is alternative to the Russian gas, will have to reach Europe through the TAP pipeline.

However, the ecologists of the Italian region Apulia did not perceive the construction of the pipeline with enthusiasm. In their opinion, such an energy policy harms the environment.
The municipality of the town Melendugno issued a report, which presents opinions of 40 experts on the TAP pipeline project. It is noted that the experts indicate many technical deficiencies of the energy project.

Simon Pirani, Senior Researcher of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies,notes that the cost of the Russian gas is much lower than that of the Azerbaijani gas. 

Tagpress.it writes that according to Melendugno mayor Marco Potì, there are suspicions that Azerbaijan does not have enough gas for the TAP pipeline. The country is most likely to buy gas from Russia and resell it to Italy. As a result, the cost of gas will be higher than that Italy pays to Russia or other suppliers now.

TAP is designed to transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz II field via Greece and Albania to Western Europe. Capacity of the pipeline is 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of extension up to 20 billion, depending on supply and demand. TAP’s construction began in 2015 in order to start the supply of Azerbaijani gas in 2019.

Remarkably, in December 2013, French company Total and Norway's Statoil refused to participate in the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline construction.

In 2014, protests were held in the region Apulia against TAP, a project sponsored by Azerbaijan’s president, IlhamAliyev. According to the project, a pipeline should go along the seaside cities Brindisi and Melendugno, which raised the locals’ discontent. Ecologists say the exploitation of the pipeline will do a serious harm to Apulia, which is included in UNESCO World Heritage list. However, the consortium ignores the assertion.