Brussels, 09/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 12 May, the EU, Russia and Ukraine will hold a further meeting at expert level on the security of supplies of Russian gas for Ukraine and the EU, in connection with the Ukrainian debt to Gazprom, the European Commission announced on Friday 9 May.
The experts will discuss the continuation of the transit and supply of gas, Ukraine's gas debt and gas prices for Ukraine, the transparency and reliability of gas flows and gas storage and the modernisation of the Ukrainian gas market, the Commission states.
The meeting aims to prepare for a further ministerial meeting in mid-May between European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yuri Prodan. In Warsaw on 2 May (see EUROPE 11071), they agreed to hold talks on the Ukrainian gas debt and its impact on the security of supply for Ukraine and the EU, as Russian President Vladimir Putin called for in April.
According to reports in the Russian media, the next trilateral ministerial meeting may be held in Athens on 16 May, on the sidelines of an informal meeting of the European energy ministers.
After the first ministerial meeting, Oettinger was in optimistic frame of mind, saying that he hoped to “reach an agreement by the end of May to prevent gas cuts and to use the months of June, July and August to store gas”. Novak confirmed that Russia had threatened to cut off supplies of gas to Ukraine if it did not pre-pay for its June supplies this May, as Ukraine has still not paid its invoice - of €2.2 billion - for the last three months.
Monday's trilateral will coincide with the meeting, in Brussels, of the European foreign ministers on the Ukrainian crisis and with a visit to Kiev of President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. A visit of the Ukrainian government to the Commission in Brussels is also scheduled for 13 May. (EH)