Warsaw (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Polish President Andrzej Duda welcomes the full synchronisation of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia to the EU’s energy network as “a groundbreaking event.”
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda made a visit to Lithuania to attend a ceremony marking the country’s formal synchronisation with the European Union‘s energy network CESA (Continental Europe Synchronous Area) through the Poland-Lithuania LitPol Link, thus completing the Baltic nation’s switch from the Russian power system.
This is a very important moment, because for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, since Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia gained independence, they will break out of this Russian system, in which Russia and Belarus remain today, and will synchronise with the European Union system,
Duda explained before leaving for Lithuania.
Together with us, they will form a whole within the European Union, ensuring security and energy sovereignty,
he added.
Andrzej Duda further said that Sunday’s ceremony in Vilnius was also a crucial moment for him because the procedure of building the LitPol Link, which links the Baltic transmission system to the synchronous grid of continental Europe, began under the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski.
When did the Baltic nations start cutting ties with Russia?
The Baltic nations—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—are in the process of reconnecting with European energy supplies after severing their ties with Russia’s electricity grid.
A day before that, the Baltic countries, Latvia and Lithuania-have managed to sever their
electricity link with the power grid of former hegemon Russia. This is another important step towards energy independence and closer integration with the EU.
The three nations used to be part of the Soviet Union and remained connected to Russia’s power grid even after gaining independence in the early 1990s. The decision to cut loose from the Russian grid became more pressing after 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and invaded Ukraine with full force in February 2022. These acts increased the concern over energy security as well as the possibility of geopolitical blackmail from Moscow.
