Cyprus will not be blackmailed by Admie, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday following reports the Greek company had objected to the government only agreeing to paying €25 million towards the cost of the Great Sea Interconnector, which would link the electricity grids of Greece, Cyprus and Israel.

“If the head of Admie thinks that the Cypriot government is being blackmailed with such letters or paid listings, he obviously does not know who he is dealing with,” Christodoulides said, adding that the government “will not be blackmailed by any head of Admie, it is here to support only the interests of the Cypriot people. This is a clear message to the head of Admie”.

According to the Phileleftheros article, Admie has called for a cancellation of a Cyprus government decision in July to pay €25 million, to be replaced by a decision to meet all payments for the cable, which will be justified through the energy regulatory authority (Cera) with invoices.

Later in the day Admie released a statement denying what was in the Phileleftheros report.

Admie said it recognises the agreement for the payment of the first €25 million but refuted it was claiming €251 million, which it said will be claimed over a 35-year period.

However, Admie said it had requested a revision of Cera’s July 2025 decision that it did not recognise the expenses incurred by the operator to date.

Specifically, it said, Cera recognised only an amount of €82 million compared to about €251 million which are certified investment expenses to date. “The objection provides all the necessary information that must be taken into account,” Admie said.

Asked to comment on the report, Christodoulides said “for this project there is full understanding and a framework agreement between the Greek and Cypriot Governments. Recently in New York we agreed with the Greek prime minister on how we are proceeding very concretely and a relevant announcement was even issued”.

When it was pointed out that the Greek government is a major shareholder of Admie, Christodoulides said it is not the Greek government that decides on what letters are sent out by the company.

Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called a meeting for 5pm on Sunday with the ministry of environment and energy and Admie officials.

An agreement signed by the Greece and Cyprus in July 2024 means Cyprus will not pay for the costs of construction as they occur but only €25 million a year for the 2025-2029 period.

This would in effect help finance the project and ensure that Admie, its 51 per cent shareholder and implementing body, will have a stable income while investing in the project before it turns a profit.

The €25 million has been included in the budget for 2025 and 2026, Christodoulides said last month.

But last week, Christodoulides said “certain things” must be implemented before Cyprus makes its planned €25 million payment.

And last month, Energy Minister George Papanastasiou had said Cyprus will pay the first €25m instalment when the project is being “implemented in its entirety”, the construction of cables alone is “not enough” to meet this criterion.

The government had initially planned to utilise funds made available to it through the European Union’s emissions trading system (ETS) to make the payments to Admie, to prevent the burden of payments falling on the taxpayer.

Admie had warned that this arrangement may violate the EU’s rules on state aid, and as such asked Cera to begin charging consumers instead.