Thursday

28th Mar 2024

EU-brokered gas talks bedevilled by ‘lack of trust’

  • South Stream - Oettinger is trying to keep other disputes out of the winter gas talks (Photo: gazprom.com)

Negotiators are struggling to secure EU winter gas supplies, with Ukraine saying chances of a deal are “pretty high”, but complaining of “lack of trust”.

EU-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine’s energy ministers in Brussels broke off at 4am local time on Thursday (30 October) with no result.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

They are to resume on Thursday afternoon.

Going into the meeting on Wednesday, Germany’s EU energy commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, told German broadcaster ZDF the chance of success is “50 percent”.

Speaking to EUobserver on Thursday morning, a Ukranian diplomatic source said the chance is “pretty high”.

Many eastern EU states rely heavily on Russian gas which transits Ukraine.

But Russia stopped Ukraine supplies in June amid a price dispute which is currently mired in a Stockholm arbitration court.

The EU-brokered talks have broadly agreed the price which Ukraine is to pay for Russian supplies between now and March.

They have also broadly agreed how to settle Ukraine’s old unpaid bills and how to handle pre-payment for winter supplies, using EU and International Monetary Fund support.

But Russia is declining to enshrine the deal in a binding contract between its supplier Gazprom and Ukrainian distributor Naftogaz.

“The main sticking point is lack of trust … if we agree on supplies for the next five or six months, we need a guarantee that Russia will not later unilaterally change the price”, the Ukrainian source noted.

The contact was referring to Moscow’s history of broken promises: on international treaties over its annexation of Crimea; on the so-called Minsk Protocol on a ceasefire in east Ukraine; and on gas prices prior to Ukraine’s pro-Western revolution.

If there is no deal by the weekend, Oettinger, who has chaired the talks for the past five months, will, on 1 November, step aside to assume his new portfolio, on digital economy, in Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission.

He will be replaced by Slovakia’s Maros Sefcovic - Juncker’s man in charge of “energy union”.

The Ukrainian side met with Sefcovic on Wednesday just in case.

The veteran diplomat is well-placed to take over from Oettinger: he speaks fluent Russian; Slovakia depends more heavily than Germany on Ukraine gas transit; and Slovakia is helping Ukraine with “reverse flow” supplies.

The EU-brokered talks are taking place in a difficult context.

EU sources claim the words “Opal … South Stream … reverse flow … [and] sanctions” have not come up in the winter gas meetings.

But in a separate decision on Wednesday, the commission declined to let Gazprom pump more volumes via Opal - a pipeline which connects Nord Stream, a Russia-Germany pipeline, to the Czech Republic and beyond.

"Gazprom is initiating new talks with the newly elected line-up of the European Commission when it is ready”, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on the Opal issue.

Russia is also annoyed the commission has, on grounds of non-compliance with EU energy law, blocked construction of its South Stream pipeline.

South Stream is to pump gas via Bulgaria and Serbia to the heart of the EU, bypassing Ukraine.

Russia is equally annoyed that Poland and Slovakia are supplying gas - which originates partly from Russia itself and partly from Norway - via “reverse flow” pipelines to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, EU ambassadors on Tuesday opted to maintain economic sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war.

An EU spokesperson told press: "there are currently no grounds for changing the EU restrictive measures”.

EU countries in a joint statement on Wednesday also criticised Russia for its decision to recognise 2 November elections to be held by pro-Russia separatists in east Ukraine.

"We deplore [Russian foreign] minister [Sergei] Lavrov's remarks about Russia's forthcoming recognition of the elections ‘on the territory of the proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics’,” the EU said.

“The holding of ‘presidential’ and ‘parliamentary’ elections, called by the self-appointed authorities, would run counter to the letter and the spirit of the Minsk Protocol and disrupt progress towards finding a sustainable political solution”.

US and EU breaking taboos to restrain Israel

The US abstained and all EU states on the UN Security Council backed a call for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as Europe prepares to also blacklist extremist Israeli settlers.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us