Mass media gets to know about plans of Brussels to take control over Gazprom’s contracts in the EU

The German edition refers to a draft document, which the European Commission will publish on Wednesday, February 25. This is a new strategy of European Energy Security. An urgent need to reconsider the issue arose with the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, when the reliability of gas supplies from Russia to the EU was threatened.

According to the draft law, EU members will lose a part of its sovereignty in the energy policy in favor of the European Commission. Before signing new agreements with third countries - suppliers of gas, the EU member states will have to submit the agreement to the European Commission "for compliance with EU law", and Brussels will be one that will say the last word on the deal.

As the SZ notes, such decision-making procedure will also apply to commercial contracts, in particular, agreements of German companies Wintershall and E.On with Gazprom. But in April 2014, the German Government contended that it wouldn’t interfere in the private agreements: "German companies have long-term contracts with Russian partners, some of which are designed for more than 20 years. The German Government is not a party to the treaties and doesn’t affect their content".