The European Union, Russia and Ukraine have finally found an “agreement in principle” on the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine on the evening of Thursday 19 December, following a fifth round of intensive trilateral negotiations.
“This is very positive news for Europe, for Russia, for Ukraine, for the gas market and for citizens of all of the countries”, said Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and representative of the EU in these negotiations.
While an agreement in principle was reached “on all the key elements” [how to reflect EU energy rules in the future framework agreement, the appropriate duration of the future contract, the required volumes and tariffs] ”, Šefčovič seemed nevertheless to remain cautious, as the agreement had not yet been formally signed by the parties.
In addition, while all three parties referred to the discussions as “constructive”, Mr Šefčovič also acknowledged that they had been “very intensive”. Proof of this is that the press conference initially scheduled for 6.30 p.m. was finally held after 9 p.m. and lasted only a few minutes.
During the meeting, the Vice-President did not provide details of the meeting, as the agreement in principle had yet to be finalised and approved by Moscow and Kiev on Friday 20 December.
Discussions took place on Friday between Gazprom and Naftogaz, the Russian and Ukrainian gas companies, in Minsk (Belarus).
However, at press time, no final agreement had yet been announced.
While the current contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz governing the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine expires on 31 December next, the CEO of Naftogaz had recently been very pessimistic about reaching an agreement before that date. He said that the chances of signing a contract beginning on 1 January were getting closer to zero every minute.
Nevertheless, according to a Reuters report published on 20 December, Russia has reportedly offered to pay Ukraine around $3 billion to end a legal dispute over gas between Naftogaz and Gazprom, thus fulfilling one of the Ukrainian preconditions for an agreement (see EUROPE 12376/18). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)