Martin Bartenstein, the President of the Energy Council and Austria’s Federal Minister for Economics, expressed his satisfaction at the agreement between Gazprom and the Ukrainian energy supplier Naftogaz. "The Austrian Presidency and European Commission’s appeals have proved effective", Bartenstein said: "Full supplies of Russian natural gas have been resumed".
According to Bartenstein, Russia had been a reliable partner for almost 40 years and he did not expect this to change in future. The problem was not dependence on Russian gas, but dependence on a pipeline system.
The European Union had learnt its lesson and would therefore prioritise diversification of its gas supplies, e.g. through projects such as the construction of the Nabucco-Pipeline. Moreover, greater use would be made in future of the possibility of transporting liquefied natural gas in tankers, in order to reduce dependence on conventional pipelines. The spring summit in March would put the focus on an improved, more coordinated energy policy. EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs had announced the European Commission’s intention of issuing a communication on energy policy. Nevertheless, Russian gas would remain the backbone of Europe’s gas supply, according to Bartenstein.
"The crisis resulting from the cuts in Russian gas supplies was managed well both at European and Austrian level,” according to Bartenstein. Coordination between the Austrian Presidency and the Commission had worked extremely well from the outset. The Austrian Presidency could therefore be said to have made a successful debut.
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