EU to help resolve Panama Canal dispute

BRUSSELS: The EU will mediate in a dispute on cost overruns so that work to upgrade the Panama Canal—one of the world’s most important shipping routes—can go ahead as planned, an official said Monday.
“I can confirm that the (three European companies involved) ... requested mediation over the weekend from” EU Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani, a European Commission spokesman said.
Tajani had taken a similar role in other countries in the past “and wants to find a reasonable solution for all parties,” spokesman Olivier Bailly said.
The “first concrete result ... is that the companies have lifted their ultimatum today (and) they will continue to work in Panama until we find a solution,” Bailly said.
In the dispute over cost overruns, the Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) consortium, led by Spanish builder Sacyr, had said it might stop work Monday unless Panama paid $1.6 billion to compensate for the cost overruns.