Europe Backs Down on the Energy Charter
The European Union has softened its stance on Gazprom’s long-term contracts, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Monday at a presser on the European Energy Charter. At the same time, Poland which has blocked EU-Russian talks has agreed to a steep hike in Gazprom’s gas prices for 2007.
A session of the Energy Charter Conference has opened in Brussels. The Conference is a working party of the agreement which is in charge of the further development of EU members’ relations with their suppliers. The meeting put further relations with Russia in the forefront of discussions. To remind it to our readers, Russia’s ratification of the charter is directly connected with the signing of a new cooperation deal between the EU and Russia after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac demanded that Russia put its signature on the EU energy blueprint. The EU-Russian agreement expires in 2007 while the new one is expected to be signed in early 2007.
Debates of the charter-related issues were to some extent hypothetical as Poland had blocked the European Commission’s right of having any talks with Russia on a new EU-Russia agreement. The Polish government says it will not lift the veto after Russia scraps limits on some of Polish imports and join the Energy Charter. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in October that the draft charter as it is now does not meet Russia’s interests and, therefore, will not be ratified.
However, the European Union is already willing to ease pressure on Gazprom which may be affected by the charter. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner made a surprise statement, calling for new long-term contracts with EU suppliers, first of all with Gazprom. “Russia is a chief strategic partner of the European Union, and fuel profits of this country are a key factor in its economy,” Ferrero-Waldner said. President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso backed her up, saying that the united EU energy market which is to be created under the charter is essential for long-term sustainable development in the energy sector and should be profitable for suppliers. New and more moderate offers of the EU to Russia and Gazprom are expected to be presented at the conference on Tuesday.
Poland has already started paying for its unbending stance towards Russia. PGNiG, Poland’s gas monopolist, and Gazpromexport announced Monday a change in pricing for gas imports to Poland which are 4.5 billion cu. meters a year. On November 17, another supplier of Poland, RosUkrEnergo signed a contract on sending 2.5 billion cu. meters of gas to the country between 2007 and 2009. Official prices in the contracts are not disclosed. Rates in the Gazexport contract are known to be stitched to black oil prices in the EU. Sources in PGNiG and Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza report that prices of Gazexport’s supplies are to go up 10 percent on January 1 to $310-320 for 1,000 cu. meters and prices of RosUkrEnergo will grow to $290. The companies do not comment on new rates. A source of Kommersant informed on the course of the talks said gas prices of Gazexport in Poland will be as much as $280 next year. Other Kommersant sources confirmed this figure.
Poland’s former president Lech Walesa believes that problems in Poland and Russia’s trade relations and price hikes stem from Russia’s enmity after Poland vetoed EU-Russia agreement talks. He accuses the EU of unwillingness to protect Poland. Finland’s Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen was the only one at the conference to support the Polish opinion and promised to discuss the issue with Vladimir Putin next week.
Vladimir Vodo in Warsaw and Dmitry Butrin in Moscow
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 21, 2006
|
