Brussels, 01/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The meeting between European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger and Russia's Minister for Energy Alexander Novak on Friday 29 August paved the way for the trilateral negotiations to be resumed between Russia, Ukraine and the EU. The three parties could meet at ministerial level by mid-September in order to find a solution to the gas dispute between Kiev and Moscow.
Quoted by news service Bloomberg this weekend, Oettinger said that a trilateral meeting - the first since the mid-June failure of negotiations and the halt to supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine - could be held in mid-September. Questioned on Monday 1 September, Oettinger's press staff confirmed that the commissioner will propose a date “very soon”. On Saturday 30 August, the Ukrainian authorities announced that a meeting could take place on 6 September - in Berlin or Brussels.
During his meeting with Novak last Friday, Oettinger reiterated his proposal to find an “interim solution” to the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute - a solution including a provisional price being set for future supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine, and a plan for the repayment of Ukraine's debts to Russian gas company Gazprom (see EUROPE 11143).
Novak highlighted the pressure on the EU and Ukraine, believing the situation “highly critical with the approach of the central-heating season” and warning of the risk that the gas delivered for Europe by Gazprom might be illegally taken by Ukraine for its own needs.
Meeting in extraordinary session on 30 August, the European Council called on the parties “to keep up the momentum” of the negotiations on energy “in order to reach tangible results within the agreed timeframe”, and it called for the continuity of Russian gas supplies to the EU transiting Ukraine. (EH)