On Tuesday 10 January, Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič held a telephone conversation with Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and assured him of the EU's support for Kiev's efforts to reform Ukraine's energy sector. He pledged €100 million in financial support through the European Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF) but also demanded the adoption of legislation in this sector, Groysman's press staff report.
Šefčovič asked the Ukrainian government for legislation to reform the country's electricity sector, strengthen its national regulation authority, and reform its public services in energy.
On Tuesday, Sefčovič and Groysman also discussed practical questions on their bilateral energy cooperation, particularly the supply of natural gas to Ukrainian and European consumers. Groysman assured Sefčovič that Ukraine could be relied upon to transit (Russian) gas for the US and EU through its territory.
Following a trilateral meeting on 9 December (see EUROPE 11687), Russia, Ukraine and the EU are continuing their talks for the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine for winter 2016-2017 and for the security of transit, through Ukraine, of Russian gas purchased by the EU.
At their bilateral summit on 24 November 2016, the EU and Ukraine signed a new memorandum of understanding for a new energy partnership that will take over from their 2005 energy cooperation agreement in order to cover energy efficiency and renewable energy, decarbonisation of the economy and research, as well as energy security, nuclear safety, infrastructure and market reform (see EUROPE 11675). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)