10/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - Intense talks for financing gas buying. On the sidelines of a conference in Slovenia on Thursday 9 July, European Commission Vice-President for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said the European Commission is in “intense communication” with the Ukrainian authorities and international financial institutions in order to help Kiev buy gas supplies for next winter. After the failure of the last trilateral ministerial meeting with Russia on 30 June, to conclude a new agreement on the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine (see EUROPE 11348), Sefcovic said “issues papers” had been sent to Moscow and Kiev to find ways to reduce their differences. “We would like to get their answers in a short period of time and I suggested to both Russia and Ukraine to have quite extensive bilateral meetings by the end of August to make sure that when we see each other next time [Ed: hoped in early September] we have realistic chances of succeeding”, he added. (EH)