10/23/2006

Poland warns EU against Russian energy blackmail

An informal summit of EU leaders has started in Lahti. Poland is represented by President Lech Kaczynski. The politicians of the 25 Union member countries will also be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is a guest at the Finnish gathering.

It is no secret that the meeting in Lahti will be mostly devoted to energy policy and the dominating theme during the evening dinner with the Russian President are to be gas and oil deliveries from the East. Poland is vitally interested in these matters, being a major importer of energy fuels from Russia.

For long years it has been striving to reduce its dependency on these imports, which are an economic mark left from Communist times. Speaking in Warsaw with the visiting Danish Prime Minister on the eve of the EU summit, head of the Polish government Jaroslaw Kaczynski warned the Union members against the possibility of Russian blackmail in energy related matters.

' We have discussed ways to avert situations in which Europe would be compelled to act in defense against 'energy weapons' which could be used by someone. This is becoming an ever more frequently used term. This is a worrying trend, but it could be stopped by countering it with a united policy.'

Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his country shares such opinion.

' I fully agree that one of the most important goals in our energy policies is to reduce our dependency on imported energy. If nothing is done, European dependency on imported energy will increase in the coming years.'

The Danish Prime Minister also stressed the imperative need for EU unity on the issue of long term energy security.

' We should also strengthen the external dimension of our energy policies. In our opinion, it is of utmost importance that the European Union speaks with one voice and formulates and pursues a common line in energy policies.'

However, a unified stand on energy policy could prove exteremely difficult to attain, given the varried interests of individual EU states. One of the problems to be discussed with President Putin in Lahti is opening the Russian energy related market to European companies. Reciprocally, Brussels is luring Moscow with possible consent for Russian investments on the Old Continent.

A prospective development which might substantially change the positions of sides concerned could be a Union agreement with Kazachstan. This is a solution Poland would greatly welcome as an alternative to the Baltic pipeline, which it considers a high risk undertaking from the point of view of its economic and, above all, energy security interests.
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