European Commission opposes new projects of Gazprom

The European Commission for the first time has directly said that it will oppose any plans of Gazprom, aimed at the weakening of the role of the Ukraine in gas transit to Europe. The deputies of the European Parliament concurrently started a campaign against the last of these projects - Nord Stream-2. Sources of the Kommersant in the monopoly and analysts believe these stands are inconsistent and contradictory to the policies of Brussels itself. But as the fate of the South Stream gas pipeline showed, the resistance of the European Commission can extremely complicate the implementation of any project of Gazprom to bypass the Ukraine.

Yesterday, Vice-President of the European Commission on Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič, commenting on Gazprom’s plans to construct the gas pipelines Turkish Stream and Nord Stream-2, said: "If you look at the construction and offers (on the construction) of the gas pipelines, one of the goals is to make the Ukrainian transit system less relevant or to completely stop the delivery via the Ukraine. This would have a very negative impact on the energy security in Europe". Thus, the European Commission has officially criticized the plan of Gazprom to stop the transit of gas through the Ukraine for the first time, and made it clear that it opposes any projects aimed at it. "If the goal is to gradually empty the Ukrainian transit route, it is simply unacceptable for the EU, because it will change the balance of gas in Europe, put Central and South-Eastern Europe in a very difficult situation," - the official explained.