Andris Piebalgs
EU Energy Commissioner

Speaking Notes welcoming the agreement between Gazprom and Naftogaz

Joint Press Conference with Mr Bartenstein, Austrian Federal Minister for the Economy and Labour
Brussels, 4 January 2006

I too welcome the agreement reached between Gazprom and Naftogaz. The Commission has been working hard, together with Minister Bartenstein, to make it clear to both sides of this dispute that Europe considers it vital to reach a rapid solution. We have been stressing that such a quick agreement was vital if Russia and the Ukraine were to retain their position as a reliable and secure gas and transit suppliers to Europe. Indeed, I believe that we can say that, with this action, both Gazprom and Naftogaz have proved their determination to remain wholly reliable suppliers of gas and transit respectively to the EU.

These many contacts that I have had with representatives of the Russian and Ukranian governments and their gas companies, as well as the fact that the Gas Coordination Group was to meet today, have clearly played an important role in providing the necessary impetus for reaching this deal. The fact that we have coordinated our approach carefully between the Commission and the Member States through the Council, has enabled us to present a clear and effective European approach on this issue.

Although the meeting of the Gas co-ordination Group this morning was in fact rather short, I think it has been very useful, both in ensuring real transparency and providing a Community mechanism to deal with such issues. Even though the original Commission proposal on the Gas Security of Supply Directive was rather watered down when it was finally agreed by the Council and Parliament in 2004, it seems that it does provide at least the basis of an appropriate mechanism to deal with such situations.

In terms of the additional lessons to be drawn from this experience, I think there are three obvious ones.

The first is that the manner that the Commission and Council have dealt with the issue has been shown to have been both measured and successful. We have worked carefully behind the scenes in the run up to the dispute to establish that a potential supply disruption would not cause a short term energy crisis in Europe.

Secondly, this has shown the benefits of the Energy dialogues that have been established between the Community and both Russia and the Ukraine. These have provided us with the necessary framework to get our views across effectively and established the relationship of trust between us to enable this to be done in the clearest possible terms.

Thirdly, it is clear that Europe needs a clearer and more collective and cohesive policy on security of energy supply. To date, the issue of security of energy supply is only really considered at national Member State level; but in reality we need a much greater European-wide approach on this issue. Indeed, the need for this was already identified at the Hampton Court Summit. I will issue a first Communication on a new European Energy Policy in spring, drawing final conclusions and proposals before the end of the year.