Deals in Serbia, Austria and Bulgaria see Russian energy power march on By Derek Brower, journalist IF YOU needed another example of the confusion in the EU’s energy policy, events in the past week provided it. In the space of just a few days Russia signed contracts that will create an energy satellite state on the EU’s periphery, put oil exports from the Caspian under total control of Moscow, develop a natural gas hub in central Europe, and probably kill off the Nabucco pipeline project. Friends, countrymen… give me your energy sector The Commission has for more than two years been working to prevent Gazprom from spreading undue influence over the EU’s energy markets, seeing the company and its political masters as a threat to energy security. It has begged member states and companies to “speak with one voice” to Gazprom. The Commission’s president, Jose Manuel Barroso, and its energy chief, Andris Piebalgs, have repeatedly warned Europeans of the dangerous imbalance in the energy relationship with Russia. So you’d expect that Commission to have been watching developments in Serbia, Bulgaria and Austria – the scenes of Gazprom’s latest triumphs – with some foreboding. Not really. Instead, Wednesday saw the Commission release yet another set of unrealistic targets for the EU’s battle against carbon emissions.