Letter From Brussels: January 2009

摘要

The ramifications of January's gas crisis, which left some EU countries without gas for two weeks during bitterly cold winter weather, will resonate throughout all areas of the EU's energy policy. The first change is that the EU no longer considers Russian gas supply through Ukraine to be secure. "I was very disappointed about the way the leadership in these two countries negotiated," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said January 20 after the dispute was finally resolved through bilateral talks between the countries' premiers.rnLeaders from the two sides told the EU several times during the two weeks that gas flows would resume shortly, said Barroso, and then nothing happened. "It's really incredible that agreements were systematically not implemented," he said. "It's never happened before with any EU partner." Barroso said such actions would be important in the EU's overall evaluation of its partners. "It's very negative for credibility," he noted, concluding that "gas coming from Russia and through Ukraine is not secure," and that it was "a question of prudence" for the EU to diversify its energy suppliers, sources and transit routes.