Gas without Russia: Europe doesn’t include Russia in list of its energy partners
The final scheme of creation of the EU Energy Union, presented yesterday, may be much more dangerous for Russia than the old, poorly designed proposals for joint procurement of gas. The new version provides for a sharp increase in the powers of the European Commission, which can get right to influence the inter-governmental agreements and commercial contracts, actively pursuing external energy policy. This poses a threat to the whole scheme of the Russian gas supplies to the EU. Sources of the Kommersant in the industry and analysts are skeptical that all ideas will be implemented. But such scheme is already working in the nuclear industry, and the example of the Third Energy Package shows that the industry’s resistance can be broken.
Yesterday, the European Commission published the first official document that describes the steps to create a European Energy Union. Until now, an overview of these plans was vague and mainly associated with the idea of joint purchases of gas, proposed by the former Prime Minister of Poland, and now the president of the EU Donald Tusk. The European Commission supported the idea, but gas companies of the European Union were strongly opposed, and the authorities in several countries, such as Germany and the UK, treated it with caution. Now plans have changed. The new concept of the Energy Union hasn’t lost its openly anti-Russian nature, but joint procurement of gas is mentioned only in passing, and the emphasis was placed on more realistic and therefore more dangerous for Russia ideas.
