Europarlementariërs: Rusland alleen WTO-lid als het zich aan de internationale energie-regels houdt (en)

MEPs in the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee have suggested that the EU should only support Russian membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if it adheres to internationally agreed energy rules.

A report passed in the committee on Monday evening (3 September) says that "support for Russian accession to the WTO should depend on the ratification by Russia of the [Energy Charter Treaty]."

The report goes in line with recent European Commission internal thinking on the issue which has also linked the two issues.

The EU last year upped its efforts to get Russia to ratify the 1998 charter after gas supply cuts to the bloc in early 2006 made it clear how dependent the EU is on its large neighbour for energy supplies.

The energy pact would open competition and foreign access to Russian oil and gas fields.

However Russia has refused to sign up to the charter and demanded more in return from the EU.

But the latest developments in Brussels is unlikely to make the climate any easier.

A leaked report from the commission last week suggested it was planning to prevent foreign companies from having uncontrolled access to the EU energy market by limiting the rights to own assets and equity in the bloc's energy companies.

The MEPs' document also calls on the commission "to actively counteract any oligopolistic tendencies, such as the danger of the creation of a gas cartel" amid signals from both Russia and Iran that they are interested in creating an OPEC-style international cartel for gas.

At the moment, the EU is reliant on Russia for around a quarter of its oil and gas.