Kroes Speaks Out on Baltic Pipeline

EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes(R) meets with Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip during her visit to Tallinn. Russia’s Gazprom would have to pull out of a controversial project to lay a pipeline in the Baltic Sea if new rules on energy companies are passed by the European Union, Kroes said.(AFP/Raigo Pajula)

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has finally said what we were all waiting to hear:

“Gazprom should sell its stake in the Baltic Sea pipeline and this will happen sooner or later,” Kroes said in Estonia, which, with its Baltic neighbours and Poland, was bypassed by the project to build a pipeline on the floor of the Baltic Sea, connecting Russia’s gas fields with Germany. “I hope the EU will adopt new regulations that state that companies producing energy and distributing energy should be strictly separated and have different ownership,” Kroes said. “EU regulations should apply to Gazprom as well as any other company from non-EU countries in the same way as they apply to EU companies,” she told a news conference held jointly with Estonian Economic Affairs and Communications Minister, Juhan Parts.