Statement from the President Barroso and Commissioner Piebalgs on the agreement for the gas monitoring.
President Barroso said: "Following the intensive efforts of both the Czech Presidency and the Commission, I warmly welcome the agreement to the document setting out terms of reference for the monitoring mission that has been signed by Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission. This should now finally allow the resumption of gas supplies from Russia to the EU. I particularly thank the Presidency of the Council, Prime Minister Topolanek, for his final efforts to facilitate the deal in Kiev and Moscow. We now need the gas to flow immediately to the EU. There are many EU citizens at risk without gas supply, and this situation has gone on for far too long."
"Now that the terms of reference are agreed, the monitoring teams will start to do their work as soon as possible: hopefully there will soon be gas flowing for them to monitor - gas going to the European citizens that need it so badly", declared Commissioner Piebalgs.
Background on the recent actions of the European Union to reach tonight's agreement
Since the cut of supplies from Russia through Ukraine, the European Commission, together with the Czech Presidency, has undertaken an intense activity to achieve the restoration of gas supplies to the EU and to mitigate the dramatic consequences that this crisis has had in many EU Member States.
The Commission, together with the Presidency, sent on Monday 5th January a high level fact-finding mission to Kiev and Moscow. The Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Piebalgs, Andris Kesteris and Director General of DG TREN, Mathias Ruete, led the Commission delegation. The Czech part was composed of Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Riman and by Vaclav Bartuska, Ambassador-at-Large for Energy Security. The delegation met with First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov. This meeting was also attended by the Deputy Prime Minister for EU Affairs Hryhoryi Nemyrya, Minister of Energetics Yuriy Prodan, and CEO of Naftogaz Oleh Dubyna.
The day after, President Barroso spoke to Prime Ministers Putin and Timoshenko on the phone and urged them to restore full gas supplies to the EU immediately. President Barroso made it clear that it was unacceptable that the EU's gas supply security was taken hostage to negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. He warned that reputation as reliable partners of Russia and Ukraine was at stake. President Barroso insisted that Ukraine and Russia had to find a stable and long-term solution to guarantee reliable gas supplies to the EU.
The Czech Presidency decided to call an extraordinary Energy Council for Monday the 12th of January.
In a new series of telephone conversations in the last couple of days, President Barroso and Commissioner Piebalgs got assurances from both sides that if an international monitoring mission was deployed to control the flows of gas would be fully restored. The European Commission services in cooperation with the European Gas Industry and the European Gas Transmission Operators built up a team of experts to undertake the monitoring mission.
On the 8th the CEOs of Gazrpom, Alexei Miller, and Naftogas of Ukraine, Oleh Dubyna came to Brussels to negotiate the conditions for the mission deployment. Both parties were received by President Barroso who charged Commissioner Piebalgs to reach an agreement, and Minister of Trade and Industry Martin Riman also negotiated on behalf of the presidency. But after a full day of discussions, no agreement on the conditions for the deployment of observers was reached on all sides.
Since the breakdown in talks on Thursday 8th in Brussels, the Commission took further contacts with the Russian and Ukrainian sides. President Barroso spoke with Ukrainian President Yushchenko late on 8 January and again to PM Putin on 9 January, and Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs had contacts with his Russian counterparts. On the morning of Friday the 9th, the Commission considered that at this point in time it was imperative that the gas starts to flow to the European Union without any further delay. The first group of observers, chaired by a senior official of the Commission was sent to Kiev to prepare the ground for the rest of the mission. The other observers flown from different parts of Europe to Berlin to organise the distribution of tasks.
In parallel with these developments, the Gas Coordination Group met in Brussels on 9 January to evaluate the situation in the different Member States and consider possible solutions. The EU Member States met together with countries of the Energy Community in South-East Europe. The Group reviewed the measures taken by industry and the individual countries; the most affected were Bulgaria and Slovakia in the EU and Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina and FYROM in the Energy Community. Other countries seriously affected were Greece, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Croatia which were capable of managing the consequences themselves for a certain period of time. The third group, Germany, Italy and France, although seriously affected, have been able to take the necessary measures and have a manageable situation.
The correct implementation of the gas security of supply directive showed how Member States though heavily struck were able to cope with the crisis, and various Member States, although severely affected, had been able to assist neighbours in difficulty showing real solidarity. The group agreed to meet again on 19 January in Brussels, and the monitoring will continue day by day until normal supplies are resumed.
On 9-10 January, the Czech Prime Minister and the President of the European Council, Mirek Topolánek, visited Kiev, Moscow and then Kiev again to seek written agreement to the terms of reference of the monitoring mission of Russian gas to the EU via Ukraine. The presidency delegation lead by Mirek Topolánek presented a proposal in full agreement with the European Commission to the Russian delegation lead by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. After the meeting with PM Putin in Moscow, where agreement was reached on 10 January, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek flaw again to Kiev, where agreement was finally reached early in the morning of 11 January.
Following signature and the deployment of the monitoring mission, the EU considers that the conditions for resumption of supplies of Russian gas to the EU immediately have been fully met.
