EU not considering giving Nabucco capital -Piebalgs

BUDAPEST Jan 27 (Reuters) - European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the European Union should not consider providing the Nabucco gas pipeline capital financing but said the EU could provide loans and guarantees.

"I believe that we can facilitate getting loans in such a difficult situation of the credit crunch," Piebalgs told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on the Nabucco.

"But not go beyond it because then it doesn't make sense, because then it's not anymore the consortium's project but a public private partnership and I'm not ready at this stage to even consider such a type of option," Piebalgs added.

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, the conference's host called on the EU to provide some capital as he said Nabucco should be considered an issue of national security not just a commercial project. (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi and Krisztina Than)