Brussels, 02/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - During a meeting with European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Tuesday 1 December, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin underlined the need to boost gas supplies to Ukraine through reverse flows from EU member state territory. Klimkin also asked Sefcovic to take measures to start large scale reverse flows quickly from Slovakia.
According to a press release from the Ukrainian foreign ministry that was quoted by Ukraine's news agency Unian, Klimkin called on the European Commission to counteract Russia's implementation of “politically motivated” gas pipeline expansion projects such as the Nord Stream-2 project, which runs counter to the interests of Ukraine and the EU.
In a letter to the Commission on 27 November, the energy ministers from seven EU member states in the east of Europe (Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) also warned of the risks of destabilisation in their region and in Ukraine - risks linked to the Russian plan to double the capacity of the Nord Stream pipeline (see EUROPE 11443).
On Monday, Sefcovic repeated to Klimkin the important role Ukraine plays in ensuring Europe's energy security and the reliable transit of Russian gas.
Both parties agreed that special attention needs to be paid to EU investment in upgrading the Ukrainian gas transport system, and they agreed to continue their active cooperation in order to carry out deep structural reforms in Ukraine's gas sector. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)