Brussels, 14/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Yet another exchange of pleasantries between Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Russian Prime Minister - and most probably next President - Vladimir Putin have shown that “mutual understanding” between the EU and Russia will take time.
Many observers felt that the recent coming on stream of the Nord Stream gas pipeline which links Russia with the EU through Germany had opened a new chapter in the often stormy energy relations between the EU and Russia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, was not mistaken when, as the valves were opened on the first gas pipeline in Lubmin on 8 November, she ventured the opinion that there would “certainly still be critical discussions” between EU and Russian partners. Merkel even called on her friend Günther Oettinger, Germany's choice to fulfil the role of energy commissioner until the end of 2009, to promote “greater mutual understanding” between Brussels and Moscow. Three days later, a further exchange between Oettinger and Putin has made it abundantly clear that relations between the Commission and the Russian administration are unlikely to sail on a sea of calm in the near future.
Putin took umbrage at a comment from the commissioner in a speech during a hearing, organised by the Conservative group in the European Parliament on Friday 11 November, on the topic of European energy diplomacy. “Putin is not interested in having a new Red Army. He sees energy as being his weapon. The EU has to recognise this quickly and respond jointly”, Oettinger argued.
The riposte from Putin was unequivocal: “We think we are being squeezed out of the European energy market”, he stated at a dinner with academics, journalists and foreign policy specialists in Moscow on Friday evening. He had in his sights the third legislative package fully liberalising the European energy market, which seeks effective dismantling of energy groups, such as the Russian gas company Gazprom, which have both supply and transport arms. The new EU policy was introduced without consultation with Russia, Putin said. Foreign investors had, he argued, ploughed in money and signed contracts - “and then you changed the laws and say now let's live by new rules. … Relations in this area should be stable and should be enshrined in contracts. The energy package annihilates the long-term programmes”, railed Putin, The Wall Street Journal reports on 14 November. (EH/transl.rt)