Brussels, 07/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger is confident as regards the issue of Russia lodging a complaint at the WTO against the rules of the third legislative package for the liberalisation of the EU's internal energy market.
In the British Financial Times newspaper on 5 May, Oettinger says that he and his advisers are “relaxed” as regards Moscow's complaint (DS 476 at the WTO - see EUROPE 11071). “It is not realistic to expect that we change these rules in the next days or the next years. No doubt there is a different culture. In Russia, the government and Gazprom, they prefer to dominate the whole chain from production upstream… to downstream power plants”, he states.
Since the third package was adopted in 2009, Moscow has refused to come into line with its requirements - which oblige energy operators to separate supply and transport activities (unbundling), thus making Gazprom modify its asset structure in Europe.
Additionally, the EU and Russia are at odds on the South Stream gas pipeline project - with the European Commission believing that the agreements concluded between the EU member states taking part in the project and Russia are not in line with the EU legislation on the internal energy market (see EUROPE 11001).
This position is hardening with the Ukrainian crisis, Oettinger warns in the Financial Times. “These days, with Ukraine, we are more and more defensive related to Russian pipelines than one year ago. These days, exemptions are not my priority for Gazprom”, he said.
“Any decisions about flexibility for Gazprom are now overshadowed by politics”, Oettinger stated, repeating that he was not opposed to the pipeline but that he wanted to ensure that this project is in line with the rules of the internal energy market. (EH)