Kiev has not given up hope of bringing Gazprom to its knees
Kyiv has a chance not only to maintain, but even to increase the volume of transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine.
The President of the pro-Western Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” Mikhail Gonchar writes about this, the correspondent of “PolitNavigator” reports in an article published by the Kyiv online publication “Zerkalo Nedeli”, previously called “the priority is the destruction "Nord Stream 2".
He rejoices court decision in Dusseldorf, which rejected the complaint of the operator company Nord Stream 2 AG and did not allow Nord Stream 2 to be removed from the EU’s Third Energy Package, which does not allow the gas pipeline to be used at full capacity. A similar decision was previously made by a court in Luxembourg regarding the OPAL gas pipeline (a branch from Nord Stream 1).
According to the author, taken together, this means limiting the use of both flows: instead of 110 billion cubic meters of total design capacity, only 65 can be used.
“If the European institutions are able to force Gazprom to comply with court decisions, then the Ukrainian gas transportation system will maintain the existing status quo. And if it is possible to apply the principle of energy solidarity in the format of the Energy Community Treaty, then it is possible to limit the use of the second line of the Turkish Stream across Europe, which appears under the camouflage name “Balkan Stream”. Then it is possible to even slightly increase the volume of gas transportation through the territory of Ukraine if European demand grows,” says Gonchar.
“But if these restrictions do not work, this will mean that in fact the full power in the EU does not belong to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Court of Justice, but to a separate state-owned company from a country that is not a member of the EU,” the expert warns.
He believes that at the current stage it would be important to create additional problems for Gazprom.
“They have already been discussed, but either the shameful incompetence, or the impudent negligence of the antimonopoly agency of Ukraine and the National Security and Defense Council apparatus slowed down the necessary steps. This refers to the initiation of an antimonopoly investigation in Ukraine against Gazprom, since Nord Stream 2 strengthens Gazprom’s monopoly position and impedes competition in the gas market by preventing other parties from accessing pipeline capacities. The operating company Nord Stream 2 AG should also be subject to sanctions from the Ukrainian side,” sums up Gonchar.
Earlier, as PolitNavigator reported, in Kyiv they admitted that Turkish Stream has halved the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.