Brussels, 07/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has authorised Gaz de France International, a Gaz de France subsidiary, and the German company Ruhrgas to take over the control of the Slovakian gas provider Slovensky plynarensky priemysel (SPP), almost half the activities of which are in the Slovakian Republic. This operation will allow the French and German companies to control the Czechoslovakian part of the gas pipeline from Russia towards Germany and Austria. The Commission felt that the operation did not pose competition problems for several reasons. First of all, although the gas pipeline carries around 75% of Russian natural gas sales to the EU, there is a second line that provides the rest of the natural gas imported from Russia to the EU. Secondly, several construction projects of other gas pipelines are under discussion in order to increase the carrier capacity towards the EU by around 50% from 2006 to 2010. Finally, current customers are given access to the SPP gasline through long term transit contracts that do not foresee any major changes in the sector in the next ten to twenty years.