Brussels, 01/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The United States and the European Union will examine ways of helping Ukraine and reducing the EU's reliance on Russian gas at the fifth EU-US energy council.
A week after the visit to Brussels by American president Barack Obama on 26 March, US secretary of state John Kerry will attend the fifth EU-US energy council in Brussels on Wednesday 2 April along with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, Greek energy minister Ioannis Maniatis, and deputy US energy minister Daniel B. Poneman. Ashton and Kerry will examine how to boost the EU's energy security through diversification of sources, by which they mean how to reduce EU28 reliance on Russian oil and gas in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis and tension with Moscow. The EU and the United States may work together on how to help Ukraine pay off its gas debts to Russia and secure its own energy supplies now that Gazprom has announced the end of preferential (lower) gas tariffs for Kiev.
The EU and the United States will discuss transatlantic cooperation against the backdrop of wide global energy issues, like security of supply, technology and tackling climate change. A close source explained on Tuesday that they would be having a strategic discussion about energy as a tool in international relations.
The EU-US energy council was set up in 2009 to promote transatlantic cooperation, good governance and transparency in the field of energy. (EH)