The EU wants Ukraine to remain a gas transit country
The European Commission is ready to facilitate a new transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine
As was stated by the EU Climate and Energy Commissioner, Miguel Arias Cañete, the European Union believes that Ukraine needs to remain a gas transit corridor, RIA Novosti reports.
"Despite the economic and political challenges, Ukraine continues to be a reliable gas partner and a transit country. It is in the interest of all parties, including the Central and Eastern European countries, that Ukraine remains an important transit corridor," he said, speaking at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg where the debates over the North Stream construction project were taking place.
According to Cañete, the European Commission is ready to facilitate a new transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine that would expire in 2019.
The European Commissioner stated that the position of the European Commission remains unchanged: The Nord Stream-2 should be in full compliance with EU standards. In this regard, he stated that the European Commission will continue to work on impact assessments for a competitive gas market in Europe if the Nord Stream-2 project is implemented; which, as stated by the European Commissioner, will not be a new source of natural gas for the EU, but will improve the opportunities for Russia to supply Commission countries and would make the need for a transport route through Ukraine unnecessary.
As was reported by korrespondent.net, in the first quarter of 2016, Ukraine increased its supply of Russian gas by 51.4%.
As of the beginning of the year, Ukraine unilaterally raised the transit rate for Gazprom by more than 1.5 times – up to 4.5 dollars for the transportation of 1,000 cubic meters of gas per 100 kilometers. Nevertheless, Gazprom continues to pay the former rate as negotiations on the new transit rate have not been held yet.