Section: European Voice (EU)
Ministers to respond to energy union plans
Energy ministers from the European Union’s member states will next week assess the European Commission’s energy union strategy, which was adopted yesterday, and prepare a response to be backed by EU leaders at a summit on 19-20 March. All member states have been broadly supportive of the energy union concept, with one exception:...
Estonian election too close to call
The ruling, liberal Reform Party and the centre-left opposition Centre Party are neck and neck in opinion polls ahead of a general election in Estonia on Sunday (1 March). The polls put the Reform Party of Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas on 23% of the vote, with the Centre Party on 22% and the Social Democrats, the current junior coalition partner,...
Why oil is not yet a blessing for the eastern Mediterranean
On an economist’s map, the eastern Mediterranean looks like a good spot in which to find and transport oil and gas. To the south, east, north and north-west lie energy-hungry markets. But put country names on the map – Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel and Egypt – and hydrocarbons seem like the fuel of a geopolitical nightmare. Still, for a...
A nightmare foretold
Screaming a warning that goes unheard is the stuff of nightmares. But for many in the ex-captive nations it is the daily experience of more than two decades. Following Vladimir Putin’s triumph in Minsk, Western leaders and pundits are beginning, belatedly, to notice that Russia is not just unpleasant, but menacing, and that we lack means of...
Energy union strategy – the reaction
Reaction to the energy union strategy adopted today by the European Commission was largely positive, with a healthy degree of scepticism about its actual ambition. Stakeholders from all sides were particularly pleased with the attention paid to energy efficiency. UK energy and climate commissioner Ed Davey criticised the strategy’s silence...
Russia threatens to end gas supplies to Ukraine
The Russian gas company Gazprom has said that Ukraine has failed to meet the terms for a pre-payment of gas supplies, with the result that it will halt supplies to Ukraine in two days’ time. Ukraine’s state-owned gas distributor, Naftogaz, had warned yesterday that Gazprom had reduced gas supplies already. Both companies have traded...
Orbán criticises Commission’s plan for energy union
Hungary and the European Commission appear to be on a collision course on energy issues, a disagreement which could disrupt the European Union’s energy union strategy which is to be adopted on Wednesday (25 February). The Commission said today (23 February) it is examining a deal to award €12 billion in nuclear power contracts to...
EIB calls for reforms to support Juncker’s investment fund
The head of the European Investment Bank today said that reforms in the European Union member states are “urgently needed” if Jean-Claude Juncker’s €315 billion investment fund is to succeed. Werner Hoyer, the president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), said that there is enough private capital in Europe to support the fund, which is...
Tusk warns Russia of sanctions
Further sanctions against Russia and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine now look likely after Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, condemned “continued ruthless attacks” by “the separatists militarily supported by Russia”. Tusk, who represents the European Union’s 28 member states, said that since Sunday there had...
Cyprus to strike “significant agreements” with Russia
Nicos Anastasiades, the president of Cyprus, will fly to Moscow on 25 February to reach what his office describes as “significant agreements” with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Ioannis Kasoulides, the Cypriot foreign minister, told a Brussels audience on 10 February that speculation that Cyprus would lease military bases to Russia was...
