... vessels from participating in further repair or maintenance works.
Meanwhile, Germany and the EU have already voiced strong discontent with the U.S. sanctions. Indeed, they benefit from the project. Russia has agreed to preserve a considerable part of its gas transit via Ukraine — this has been one of the key demands to support the project. The European Union has never invited the U.S. to protect them from the NS2, though there was a heated debate inside the EU. Apparently, sanctions emerge as an instrument of towering market competition for the European gas market. Donald Trump has repeatedly ...
... exception for Opal pipeline.
First Step towards Total Reconciliation?
www.nord-stream.com
Viktor Katona:
Despite the Sanctions and Ukraine
It has been announced many times in the recent years that the EC and Gazprom are close to agreeing on settlement terms.... ... investigation led by the European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, was based on the belief that Gazprom broke European Union Competition Law when supplying gas to eight countries of the integration unit - Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Estonia....
... Nord Stream 2 will not solve all the problems associated with conducting business with Ukraine – especially as the pipeline will probably not run at full capacity (which... ... structures represent the interests of almost the entire continent. At least
seven European Union countries
– Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania... ... of the petition signed by seven countries, and with the interests of the
Poseidon gas pipeline
that will connect Italy and Greece in mind, the European authorities announced...
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – The European Union is trying to maintain the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine for politically motivated reasons, Russian Envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said.
"I think they have the ultimate goal of keeping the Ukrainian transit, which is a purely political stance. It does not have any economic basis," he said,...
... is not a partner (of the EU), but a strategic country and a neighbor, above all of Ukraine."5
This is, however, only a small part of the story and there are other... ... currently under negotiation, which aims to create an area of free trade between the European Union and the United States. In June 2013, the EU gave directives to its delegations... ... decisions” of the EU authorities, just to re-quote Ms. Mogherini's intervention.
Gas at All Costs
Another crucial aspect, which the EU is failing to address, concerns...
... trilateral round of talks between Russia, Ukraine and the EU, which are currently being held in Berlin[13]. The three-party conference, a diplomatic turning point Among other topics, the meeting is centered on the discussion of issues concerning the gas price for Ukraine and its impending debt. The European Union might be trying to put obstacles to the South Stream project in order to grant concessions for Ukraine, most likely in view of its association with the EU. This is quite evidently a dangerous bargaining position. On one side South Stream ...
... the European market and fully matches Gazprom prices for European countries. The alternate price suggested by Kiev is absolutely groundless.
As far as the overall gas settlement is concerned, the heart of the matter seems to lie in the approach of the European Union. Fortunately, Brussels today is deeply involved in gas negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in contrast to 2006 and 2009, when the Europeans deliberately avoided any kind of participation in such processes. But nowadays they appear to be seriously worried about their own continuous gas supply during winter.
energy.sia-partners.com
REUTERS/Gleb ...
... metres. Thus a lot, if not everything, will depend on Kiev. Recently, however, Ukrainian policy in many areas has been completely unpredictable, and sometimes simply opposed to logic.
What are the interests of the sides involved in the negotiations?
The European Union will seek any agreement it can between Russia and Ukraine in order to lift the threat of Moscow halting gas supplies via Ukrainian territory in the near future. Russia, which has not yet brought the South Stream gas pipeline into operation, also has an interest in maintaining gas exports to Europe at their previous level and is therefore ready to make some ...
... sovereignty and political independence of Ukraine, whereas Russia views Ukrainians as pseudo-Europeans, who wish to join the European Union out of spite, that is to distance themselves further away from Russia. But this has not always been so.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, despite notable disagreements over Sevastopol and gas transfers, Ukraine had been receiving substantial political and economic support from Russia. Not only did Moscow provide president Leonid ...
... 2012, Ukraine has been connected to the EU gas market through effective bi-directional gas flows.”[4] As media noted, Ukraine intends “to import up to 8 billion cubic meters of gas a year from central Europe to replace expensive Russian supplies and take advantage of lower prices on the European spot market.... ... witness a great diplomatic clash in this field. I see energy dimension of this triangular relationship as an element, in which the European Union is still trying how hard it can challenge Russian red lines. The biggest problem for Ukraine is the deal that was ...
