French cable giant Nexans has issued a final ultimatum to Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE), threatening to walk away from the landmark Greece-Cyprus subsea link. While ADMIE blames regulators for project delays, internal sources reveal that Nexans holds the Greek operator solely responsible for breaching fundamental contract terms and missing critical deadlines. The French contractor has warned in writing that unless ADMIE issues the mandatory “Full Notice to Proceed” by the end of March 2026, it will consider itself released from all contractual obligations. ADMIE was originally due to issue this binding order in August 2024. If the deadline passes, Nexans will no longer be bound by the project’s delivery timeline or the penalty clauses intended to compensate ADMIE for completion delays.
The financial stakes are staggering. ADMIE has already paid €300 million to Nexans, a sum the French firm now considers non-refundable. Furthermore, Nexans is demanding an additional €250 million in termination penalties following ADMIE’s decision to halt cable payments in April 2025. This brings the total exposure facing the implementing body to a massive €550 million, a figure that excludes potential further claims for raw material orders and lost opportunity costs. Nexans has already manufactured approximately 300 kilometres of cable at its plants in Japan and Norway, yet despite granting several extensions—the last of which expired in December 2025—the company now refuses to commit to any delivery schedule unless the impasse is resolved immediately.
If ADMIE fails to meet the March deadline, the French firm warns that the entire project could collapse. Anticipating a total failure, ADMIE is reportedly preparing to shift the blame onto the regulatory authorities of Cyprus and Greece, seeking to recoup losses from the two governments and, ultimately, electricity consumers. Nexans has clarified that even if the “Full Notice to Proceed” is granted this quarter, the project’s completion date will be delayed by at least one year from its original late 2029 target. This revised timeline remains subject to the project avoiding further interference from Turkish warships in international waters between Crete and Cyprus.