The European Commission is positive about an invitation to act as the honest broker in talks between Ukraine and Russia on a new gas transit contract, Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic told EurActiv.
“When I met with the Ukrainian President over an EU summit, there was a proposal to start the negotiations of a new transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine. The EU was invited to be the honest broker, as we are in these trilateral gas deals, and from our side there was a positive response,” he said.
“But we need to see if we can explore such possibilities before the Stockholm arbitrage adopts its ruling on this big case [an arbitration court’s ruling on a price and debt dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz is expected in the fall of 2016],” he said.
Naftogaz Director for business development Yuriy Vitrenko earlier said that his company hoped to hold talks with Gazprom in the near future on brining a gas transit contract in line with the European Union’s Third Energy Package and Ukrainian laws.
