Margrethe and the bear

Margrethe and the bear

The European Union’s trustbuster turns her fire on Gazprom—marking a big change in European policy and the gas business

GAZPROM revelled in its untouchability. It was the main supplier of imported gas to the European Union, benefiting both from close Kremlin patronage (the Russian state is its largest shareholder) and from a web of business and political relationships in countries it sold gas to, notably Germany. Alternatives to Russian gas were scant, as was customers’ willingness to resist Gazprom’s dominance.   

Now the EU is taking on the Russian gas beast. The first blow fell on April 22nd when the EU’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, sent the company a long-expected “statement of objections” (Euro-parlance for a charge-sheet) alleging market abuses. The unpublished document runs to hundreds of pages. They detail the murky world of Russian gas exports, featuring lucrative intermediary companies with unknown beneficial ownership, deals struck by politicians not businessmen, and a hefty dose of geopolitical favouritism.

EU charges Russia's Gazprom, alleging price gouging

(Reuters) - The European Union launched a legal attack on Gazprom on Wednesday, stoking tension with Moscow as it accused the Russian gas giant of overcharging buyers in Eastern Europe and hindering competition.

The Kremlin appeared to take a conciliatory tone, saying it hoped for compromise and an impartial stance from EU regulators.

The EU's new antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, who a week ago announced a similar market abuse prosecution against U.S. tech giant Google, said state-controlled Gazprom was using its continued dominance in Moscow's old Soviet client states to hike prices by as much as 40 percent over the norm.

It could do so, she said, by insisting on contracts that bar customers selling on gas to others, notably across borders, which she described as a hindrance of free markets that broke EU law. It has also been an obstacle to EU efforts to supply Ukraine.

Another set of charges related to pressure put on Poland and Bulgaria to invest in pipelines according to priorities dictated by Gazprom.

Russia's biggest company, which saw an offer of a negotiated settlement rejected by Vestager's predecessor, dismissed all the accusations as "unfounded" and said it expected a resolution at a political level - though Vestager insisted the case was "not political", and in any case relations between President Vladimir Putin and the West are in deep freeze over the Ukraine conflict.

"The era of Kremlin-backed political and economic blackmail draws to a close," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told Reuters in welcoming charges which EU officials said were based on evidence going back to when the eight countries affected joined the bloc, most of them in 2004.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov branded the move an "absolutely unacceptable" bid to apply EU rules retroactively to contracts signed long ago by Gazprom, which supplies about 30 percent of the gas used in the 28-nation bloc. 

Putin's spokesman said he hoped for compromise: "We are looking forward to an absolutely impartial attitude towards the Gazprom company," he told reporters. "Of course, Gazprom will defend its interests and the state, as a major shareholder in the company, will also defend the interests of Gazprom."

A formal inquiry was launched in September 2012 though, as in the Google case which had been meandering in Brussels for twice as long, Vestager has dramatically moved to a prosecution phase less than six months after taking over her job. 

From beyond the EU's borders, Ukraine's state-owned gas firm Naftogaz also hailed the move to free cross-border flows from Gazprom restrictions. Like others in Moscow's former empire, Kiev accuses Putin of using Russian energy, and the Soviet-era infrastructure that carries it, to crimp its independence.

FINE OR SETTLEMENT

Gazprom has 12 weeks to respond to the charges and Vestager stressed that a negotiated settlement, under which it would amend its practices, was still possible. Without a deal, she has the power to fine companies up to 10 percent of their annual sales - a potential penalty in Gazprom's case of $10 billion.

"Gazprom is dominant in all these markets," Vestager, a Danish former economy minister, told a news conference. "Our preliminary view alleges that Gazprom is abusing this position."

"Gazprom has been able to charge higher prices in some countries without fearing that ... gas would flow in from where prices were lower," she said of contracts with the three ex-Soviet Baltic states, Poland and Bulgaria. 

The broader charges on hindering cross-border sales also affect Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Migrant influx strains Greece as economy suffers

(Reuters) - Shortly after taking power in January, Greece’s new government opened the gates of one of the main detention centers where thousands of undocumented migrants had been held against their will after arriving on the country’s Mediterranean shores.
Many of the inmates, including refugees and children, were driven to Athens and released, in what Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's leftist government hailed as the beginning of the end of inhumane migrant policies of the past.
Now the move has created other problems. With the influx of migrants from Africa and the Middle East rising this year, hundreds have ended up like 40-year-old Syrian Dia Qasem and her three sons: stuck in the Greek capital’s public squares with nowhere to sleep and little eat.
"The only help is from God,” sobbed Qasem, a neat hazel-eyed woman with chipped red nail varnish, one afternoon this week. Qasem and her sons fled Damascus last year and, after a dangerous voyage from Turkey, they landed on the island of Kos.

They have enough money to stay in a hotel on occasion. But most nights Qasem settles down to sleep with her sons, other Syrians and migrants from other nationalities, under a tree in a central Athens' square.

EU summit to offer resettlement to only 5,000 refugees

EU summit to offer resettlement to only 5,000 refugees

Exclusive: Confidential draft from summit reveals that only 5,000 migrants will be allowed to resettle in Europe with large numbers likely to be repatriated
Alan Travis
Thursday 23 April 2015 10.43 EDT
Only 5,000 resettlement places across Europe are to be offered to refugees under the emergency summit crisis package to be agreed by EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
A confidential draft summit statement seen by the Guardian indicates that the vast majority of those who survive the journey and make it to Italy – 150,000 did so last year – will be sent back as irregular migrants under a new rapid-return programme co-ordinated by the EU’s border agency, Frontex. More than 36,000 boat survivors have reached Italy, Malta and Greece so far this year.
The draft summit conclusions also reveal that hopes of a major expansion of search-and-rescue operations across the Mediterranean in response to the humanitarian crisis are likely to be dashed, despite widespread and growing pressure.
The summit statement merely confirms the decision by EU foreign and interior ministers on Monday to double funding in 2015 and 2016 and “reinforce the assets” of the existing Operation Triton and Operation Poseidon border-surveillance operations, which only patrol within 30 miles of the Italian coast.

Chechen leader tells security forces to shoot if Russian police intrude

MOSCOW

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov walks before a meeting of the state council at the Kremlin in Moscow, September 18, 2014.

REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV

(Reuters) - The leader of the Russia's southern region of Chechnya has ordered his police to "shoot to kill" if servicemen from other parts of the country encroach on their territory.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov gave the order after a man was killed in his capital, Grozny, in an operation by police from the neighboring region of Stavropol. Kadyrov said on Instagram this week he had ordered an investigation into the death.

"I declare to you that if anyone appears on your territory without your knowledge, it doesn't matter whether they're from Moscow or Stavropol, then shoot to kill. People need to reckon with us," Kadyrov told a meeting of his Interior Ministry in televised comments posted on YouTube.

They provided further evidence of tensions that surfaced between the Chechen leader and Russian authorities after leading opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow in February and a former Chechen policeman was arrested as a suspect.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement calling Kadyrov's statement "unacceptable". It also said that the Stavropol police had informed their Chechen colleagues about the Grozny operation.

Kadyrov professes loyalty to President Vladimir Putin but enjoys a large degree of autonomy to run his mainly Muslim region as he chooses, having put down an anti-Moscow insurgency that gave rise to two wars in Chechnya after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Russia and Argentina agree framework energy deals

• 4 hours ago
 
• From the sectionEurope

Argentina is looking to Russia to help reverse a costly energy deficit

Russia and Argentina have signed a series of framework agreements on economic and energy co-operation following talks in Moscow.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Russian leader Vladimir Putin hailed their co-operation as a "comprehensive strategic partnership".

The agreements include Russian investment in a hydroelectric plant and a nuclear power plant in Argentina.

Lifting Iran sanctions in Russia’s interest – Lavrov

Published time: April 22, 2015 06:54

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (RIA Novosti/Vladimir Astapkovich)

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Iran, Nuclear, Politics, Russia, Sanctions

The total removal of sanctions against Iran will benefit Russia’s interests and economy, as well as bring stability to the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. He noted there is no UN ban on oil and gas trade with Tehran

“The lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions – both those imposed by the United Nations Security Council and all unilateral restrictions – meets our national interests,” Lavrov said in an exclusive interview with Argumenty i Fakty (Arguments & Facts) weekly. “We are confident that de-escalation of tension around Iran will improve bilateral trade-and-economic ties and, correspondingly, will be beneficial for Russia.”

(L-R) Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wu Hailong, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarifat, Russian Deputy Political Director Alexey Karpov, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrive for nuclear talks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne) in Lausanne April 2, 2015. (Reuters/Brendan Smialowski)

Lavrov in particular stressed that there are no UN Security Council bans on exports of Iranian oil and gas.

“Tehran has been selling hydrocarbons to states that are not afraid of unlawful Western restrictions and to those who has been able to reach an ‘amicable agreement’ with Washington,” he added. 

For Italy, no end to flood of migrants desperate for refuge

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More than 200 rescued migrants brought to Italy(0:51)

An Italian Financial Guard boat rescued 220 migrants off the coast of Libya on Thursday as the European Union holds an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis. (AP)

By Daniela Deane April 23 at 4:56 PM 

CATANIA, Sicily — The tragic scenes unfolding here have become depressingly familiar.

Hundreds of bedraggled migrants shuffling ashore yet again at a port in southern Italy. Desperate asylum-seekers fleeing chaos, poverty and Islamist militants in their countries. Overcrowded, rickety boats that Italian maritime authorities often barely reach in time — if the boats do not capsize and drown their passengers first.

This tidal wave of humanity landing in Italy, seeking shelter, is now a daily occurrence — and the country is struggling under the enormous weight. Italian officials are deeply concerned that the approaching summer, with its calmer weather, could bring tens of thousands more migrants to their beleaguered shores.

On Thursday morning, 220 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa arrived, adding to the almost 1,000 asylum-seekers who came Wednesday. Many of them have the skin infection scabies, presenting a challenge to Italian health officials.

This past weekend, about 850 lost their lives in the sea between lawless Libya and Italy — the worst single death toll among those being smuggled across the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.

Migrants wait to disembark from the Italian Navy vessel Chimera in the harbor of Salerno. (Francesco Pecoraro/AP)

Catania police said just over two dozen, including four teenagers, survived the shipwreck.

Italy PM urges united EU action to tackle migrant crisis

ROME | BY ISLA BINNIE AND PHILIP PULLELLA

(Reuters) - The European Union must take a collective stand to tackle migrant trafficking at its source in African countries, Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday ahead of an emergency summit of the bloc's leaders to discuss the crisis.

Up to 900 people were feared dead after their boat sank on its way to Europe from Libya at the weekend including many women and children locked below deck, prompting calls for joint action to stop the flow of migrants fleeing war and hardship in Africa.

The deaths caused shock in Europe where a decision to scale back naval operations last year seems to have increased the risks for migrants without reducing their numbers.

EU officials, worried about encouraging people to make the crossing just as economic troubles in some European countries fan concerns over immigration, have struggled to come up with a response but proposed doubling rescue operations on Monday.

Turkey recalls envoy to Austria as 'genocide' condemned

Ambassador returns from Vienna as Austrian parliament becomes latest entity to call massacre of Armenians a "genocide".

22 Apr 2015 21:49 GMT | Politics, Turkey, Armenia, Austria, Europe

The six parties in Austria's parliament issued a joint declaration on Wednesday calling the massacre a genocide [AFP]

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Austria in protest over the Austrian parliament's condemnation of the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces 100 years ago as "genocide".

Turkey said on Wednesday that the Austrian parliamentary declaration would permanently damage the two countries' relations.

"This declaration... has caused outrage for us," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We reject this biased attitude of the Austrian parliament, trying to lecture others on history, which has no room in today's world.

"It is clear that this declaration...will have permanent negative effects on Turkey-Austria relations."

Migrant Deaths: EU leaders to triple funding of rescue operations

Britain, Germany,and France offer ships and aircraft for Mediterranean mission at emergency summit in Brussels 

European leaders have pledged to triple funding of EU maritime operations in the Mediterranean in an attempt to get to grips with the epidemic of migrant drownings at sea, while 15 of 28 EU countries also promised more naval assets for the mission.

At an emergency summit in Brussels staged under intense pressure to respond more humanely to the soaring death toll, Britain was the first to pledge ships and helicopters.

The Royal Navy flagship HMS Bulwark was ordered to Malta to join search-and-rescue operations after the deaths of up to 800 people last weekend in the worst single tragedy in two years in the Mediterranean.

David Cameron also said two smaller cutters or patrol vessels would be sent as well as three Merlin helicopters fitted with advanced radar systems capable of spotting small craft at sea from a range of 100 miles.

Germany offered one frigate and 10 ships while France was said to have committed a plane for a fortnight in September and a patrol boat for the month of November.

Despite previous British government opposition to saving lives at sea, Cameron’s U-turn on search and rescue came with conditions attached. He said any migrants picked up at sea would not necessarily qualify for claiming asylum in Britain, but would be taken to the nearest EU country, probably Italy. Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, was said not to have objected when he met Cameron just before the summit.

The Bulwark, currently taking part in first world war commemorations at Gallipoli in Turkey, is expected to be operational on search-and-rescue duties in the Mediterranean in around a week and will be based at Malta, UK government sources said.

“Our immediate priority is to prevent more people from dying at sea,” said a summit statement.While leaders stressed that the paramount aim was to save lives, Thursday’s summit focused mainly on security in what looked like a vain attempt to stem the flow of refugees from north Africa.

Refugee charities and immigration professionals, highly critical of the EU effort before the summit, were guardedly hopeful.

Church willing to use assets to pay off Greece's debts, Archbishop says

ANA-MPA -- Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece on Saturday indicated that he was willing to proceed with the exploitation of Church assets, acting together with the Greek state, on condition that the money raised would go toward paying off Greece's debt. In an interview with the private broadcaster Skai, he clarified that he was not talking about selling off Church property but its exploitation, so that it remained in Greek hands.
The archbishop said the issue would be discussed with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras "in good time".
Referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the archbishop noted that he had "no dispute with her, but whatever can be done for the Greek people would be welcome."

Greek far-right Golden Dawn leaders go on trial

Leaders of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party are among 69 people who have gone on trial on charges including murder and being in a criminal group.

The session began at a top security prison in Athens, without some of the key defendants present, and was adjourned until 7 May.

Witnesses were reportedly attacked by party supporters outside the jail, despite the high level of security.

Golden Dawn polled third in the January general election.

Critics describe the anti-immigrant party as a neo-Nazi group.

Dozens of anti-fascist protesters and supporters of Golden Dawn were kept apart by police outside the jail. But reporters said scuffles still took place, in which a witness and a protester were hurt.

All 18 of Golden Dawn's MPs in the previous Greek parliament are among the defendants, but only a handful of them were in the specially-built courtroom for the start of the trial.

Leader Nikos Michaloliakos, 57, who was released recently from prison, is being kept under house arrest and was not in court on Monday.

Putin says ready to work with United States: TV

(Reuters) - Russia has key interests in common with the United States and needs to work with it on a common agenda, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday in a television interview.

In his comments to the state-run Rossiya channel, Putin appeared to soften his anti-American rhetoric after being highly critical. Relations between Moscow and Washington and other Western powers have soured over the conflict in Russia's neighbor Ukraine, sinking to an all-time low.

"We have disagreements on several issues on the international agenda. But at the same time there is something that unites us, that forces us to work together," Putin said.

"I mean general efforts directed at making the world economy more democratic, measured and balanced, so that the world order is more democratic. We have a common agenda."

Putin has in the past fiercely attacked the United States and the West in general, blaming them for the Ukraine crisis, which Russia says was the result of a Western-backed "coup" against Ukraine's former leader Viktor Yanukovich.

Russia has repeatedly denied accusations from Kiev and the West that it is supporting pro-Russian rebels with troops and weapons in eastern Ukraine, where more than 6,000 people have been killed since last April.

His latest remark comes two days after an annual TV phone-in show in which Putin accused the United States of trying to dominate world affairs, saying it wanted "not allies, but vassals". However, his criticisms of the West were more moderate than in some previous appearances.

However, both Russia and the West say they back a peace deal agreed in Minsk in February, as a result of which a ceasefire in the Donbass region is largely holding.