European Commission steps into Canal expansion conflict

The roller coaster high stakes poker game between the Canal Authority and the consortium building the third set of locks for the Panama Canal expansion entered a new phase on Sunday, January 19 with a reinterpretation of an earlier threat to cease work.

It was widely believed that work would cease on Monday, January 20.

In a letter to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) on December 30 Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), threatened to halt work if the agency did not agree to pay $1.6 billion in cost overruns.

A follow-up letter with the same message was reported on Friday January 17 but on Sunday consortium officials issued another statement saying that it had simply reserved the right to stop work at any point after Jan. 20.
"GUPC has not planned any changes in the status of the work, since the letter submitted on Dec. 30 gives the right to the consortium to suspend works at any time after the 21st day," it said.
On the same day the European Commission (EC) agreed to try and mediate a solution to the conflict, as three of the four members of the consortium are European companies, including the Spanish firm Sacyr.
EC Vice President Antonio Tajani said that he has received a request from the consortium to "try to mediate a solution to the problem" reports La Prensa.