EU-Russia Energy Charter deal in the autumn?

EU energy Commissioner Piebalgs is “optimistic” that a deal with Russia on the Energy Charter is “possible” but not before the EU-Russia energy conference in October and certainly not during the G8 meeting in St Petersburg in July, the Commissioner told French daily Les Echos.

“Russia has shared and will continue to share the principles of the Energy Charter, but we are not happy with certain things contained in agreements to the Energy Charter,” Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said after a G8 finance ministers’ meeting in St. Petersburg on 10 June.
Kudrin said Moscow would like the Charter to address the issue of nuclear power development and recognise Russia as a supplier of nuclear energy. Moscow is also reluctant to let central Asian countries benefit from free access to Russian transit pipelines, a move which will make their natural gas 50% cheaper than Russia’s when it arrives in Europe, according to Igor Shuvalov, an aide to President Putin.

Russia should receive clear returns from granting others free access to its production and transportation facilities, Putin told EU heads of states at the EU-Russia summit in May. “The question is what will we get in return?”

EurActiv