M5S stages House sit-in over Trans Adriatic Pipeline

(ANSA) – Rome, December 4 – A House session was suspended Wednesday when a group of MPs from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) staged a sit-in in the seats reserved for government ministers in protest of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) accord between Italy, Greece and Albania. Members from the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which holds a majority in the left-right coalition government, yelled “get out!” from across the floor. The pipeline, slated for construction in 2015, will carry natural gas from the Caspian Sea across Turkey, Greece and Albania, then through the Adriatic to Italy, where it will deliver over 350 billion cubic feet of natural gas to Europe upon its planned completion in 2019. Italy, Albania and Greece signed an agreement on the deal in February. Opponents in Italy worry the pipeline construction will damage pristine land and pose an environmental hazard. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED