Volgens Pielbalgs moeten nieuwe lidstaten de relatie met Rusland pragmatisch benaderen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The new member states' value-based approach to EU-Russia relations is more far-sighted than western oil and gas pragmatism, the EU's Latvian energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs i, told EUobserver.

"[The EU's] interest is to have long-lasting and stable relations with Russia and this you can establish if you speak of values," he said. "Commodity is just commodity, and it perhaps brings the EU and Russia closer but not close enough to avoid misunderstandings."

"I would say values, issues related to free trade, not only in energy but in all areas, is actually the key answer," Mr Piebalgs added. "Energy will buy and sell itself anyhow, so we should not be too worried about it. The big challenge is stable relations."

The remarks of the commissioner - a fluent Russian speaker who was 32 years old when Latvia split from Russia in 1990 - come as the EU begins dissecting its energy-dominated summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Lahti, Finland, last week.

The summit saw the EU divided on classic post-2004 enlargement lines with Poland and Latvia leading criticism of Russia on democracy, human rights and energy market grounds while France, the UK, Germany and Italy tried to foster a more cordial tone.

"The new member states have higher stakes in relations with Russia because they are closer to Russia. It's not so much historical relations," Mr Piebalgs explained. "It's not because we are remembering a Russia when the Tsar was still there."

"A prosperous and democratic Russia is the best way to develop our economic and political interests. We have a lot more at stake than, say, Portugal, in our relations with Russia," he added.

The commissioner warned that Mr Putin's Kremlin cannot be seen as continuing the line of Soviet-era imperialism however, saying "It's a differnt country and it should be treated fairly. I treat Russia according to its merits, not on the basis of its Soviet past."

Pragmatism taking root

The Lahti meeting saw little Russian movement on opening up its gas pipeline infrastructure to EU firms in line with the 1991 Energy Charter Treaty principles, with some EU officials and companies already seeking more pragmatic ways to break the ice.

Dutch energy industry association, EnergieNed, says Russian exporters would be keener to pump more gas to Europe if the EU ditched its "third-party access" rule, which guarantees access to new pipelines for firms outside the original investing consortium.

But Mr Piebalgs "strongly" rejected the proposal, which would import an aspect of Russia's monopoly-based industry model into the EU, saying "We are not in a situation that we should go for desperate measures."

"If you build a pipe and you have a monopoly and you just keep a small flow of gas flowing, does this help [EU energy security]?" the commissioner asked. "You make a good return on your investment - but I still need more gas."