Representatives from the European Union, furious with the duplicity and irresponsibility of both Russia and Ukraine in the gas war, are promising that they won’t soon forget how this was handled. Really. This time they mean it … no more business as usual. Even though you’ve heard this kind of warning in the past, this isn’t like last time, when we forgot everything right away.
From the Financial Times:
José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, criticised Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday for their conduct in negotiations to end a two-week natural gas crisis, saying he had never witnessed such “really incredible” behaviour before.
As Russian gas flows resumed across Europe, Mr Barroso vented his frustration over the ordeal, accusing both countries of failing to live up to their promises as the European Union worked to broker a truce.
“Let me tell you, frankly, I was very disappointed during these discussions about the way the leadership in these two countries negotiated,” Mr Barroso said. “I will not forget that, and I think European citizens should know that.”
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2 Comments
I guess that Anglo-saxonic point of view upon Russian- European energy relations will never match with the reality of European situation . Soviet Union , and latter Russia , have always been reliable energy suppliers to Europe . Soviet Union even sold oil to Iceland at the time this country was involved in the ” SOSUS ” soviet submarine tracking system .The problems began when Poland and Ukraine developped their Russphobic policies thanks to Washington and London .Gaz de France and ENI were created to developp energy independance in France and Italy from big anglo-saxonic oil ” majors ” after WWII ad it’s somewhere ” normal ” that they ” understand ” Russian so-called ” Petrostatism ” .
Takes quite delusional outlook to still talk about Russia as a “reliable” energy supplier. That’s not Russophobic, that’s just what has happened in the past five years.