Russia and the European Union agreed Monday to set up an "early warning" mechanism to protect European consumers in the event of a repeat of the gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev that left millions of Europeans without gas at the start of this year. The memorandum on the mechanism was signed in Moscow by EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko. According to the EU, this "includes a clear definition of the circumstances that would trigger the activation of the mechanism, in terms of what constitutes a 'significant disruption of supplies,' be it due to maintenance of relevant infrastructure, accidents or commercial disputes" (IOD Nov.16,p8).
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