EU Threatens Legal Action in Gas Dispute

I caught this one in the FT today:

“I would like to convey a very clear message to Moscow and Kiev: If the agreement sponsored by the EU is not honoured as a matter of urgency, the Commission will advise EU companies to take this matter to the courts,” Jose Manuel Barroso, the commission president, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

“If the agreement is not honoured, it means that Russia and Ukraine can no longer be considered reliable energy suppliers to the EU,” Mr Barroso added.

Isn’t the “reliability question” really is beyond dispute at this point?  It’s also hard to picture the Kremlin respecting any decisions from a rule of law court – besides, Gazprom was the first to come up with the lawsuit idea early on (and the Hungarians are getting in on this litigation bonanza).  For as much as this disaster is “a purely commercial” dispute or “a fight between oligarchs,” its resolution seems overwhelmingly political.