Brussels, 28/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - Shaken by a European anti-monopoly investigation targeting gas company Gazprom, Moscow does not rule out attacking the EU's energy market legislation at the WTO for restricting imports of Russian gas.
Whether it concerns various areas of friction in trade between the two countries - recycling charges for imported vehicles, an embargo on imports of live animals - or the energy dispute linked to Gazprom's activities in Europe, Russia - newly arrived at the WTO after 18 years of laborious negotiations - is taking pleasure in making the provocation known.
The idea is not new but its affirmation points to the state of mind of the Russian authorities, just one month after Russia's formal accession to the WTO, and after the Commission's launch of an investigation targeting Gazprom for impeding competition on the internal energy market. Moscow does not rule out, according to a government source quoted by Reuters on Thursday 27 September, contesting at the WTO the third package of Community legislation for liberalising the energy market. Russia would thus take its first dispute with a WTO member to Geneva.
Since its adoption in 2009, Moscow refuses to conform to the requirements of the third package, which imposes unbundling between energy supply and energy transport operators and which would thus force Gazprom to modify the structure of its assets in Europe. The quarrel took a turn for the worse at the beginning of September with Commission's launch - following a complaint by Lithuania - of an investigation targeting the Russian gas company for abuse of dominant position and price manipulation in several central and Eastern European countries that are highly dependent on Russian gas deliveries.
Committed by long term contracts to supply 25% of the gas imported into the EU, Russia, which likes to consider itself a trustworthy energy partner, has no other solution than to counter-attack on legal grounds. The Russian administration would then try to establish that the EU rules governing the energy market are subjected to WTO rules. A study is apparently about to be finished in two weeks' time. “If the WTO rules are applicable to the third energy package, as well as other measures restricting the Russian exports, we will contest them at the WTO”, says the government source quoted by Reuters.
In response to the investigation being launched into Gazprom, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, had criticised the requirements of the third energy package, describing it as “robbery”. He has until now publicly rejected the idea of entering into a trade war with Europe.
The European Commission has declined to comment. (EH/transl.fl)