Brussels, 22/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 22 September, the European Commission officially denied having suspended the anti-trust investigation into Gazprom, against the backdrop of several reports in the media stating that information to this effect had come directly from European Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, in Florence on Friday 19 September.
Almunia “didn't say that the Commission had suspended the investigation. He said that it was very much ongoing”, said his spokesperson, Antoine Colombani. Speaking from Florence, Almunia explained that discussions had taken place at one point to look into the possibility of resolving the Commission's concerns regarding Gazprom's commitments, as is possible under the Commission's procedures. Almunia said that these talks had been suspended as they had failed to yield concrete results, hence the confusion in the media, Colombani explained. (EL)