The European Commission said that stopping the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine, the agreement on which expires on December 31, 2024, threatens the European Union with a “worst-case scenario.”
As the European edition of the Politico newspaper reported, citing a document from the European Commission, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia will be the first to be hit, TASS quotes.
European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson previously noted in the European Parliament that the European Commission “is not interested in extending Ukrainian gas transit,” however, according to the document, in reality the European Commission expects several problems.
“This means that the EU will soon lose about 5% of its gas imports, mainly to the countries of central and south-eastern Europe (which pay for Russian gas in rubles). If this loss coincides with a prolonged period of cold temperatures, it could create a worst-case scenario for EU countries that continue to receive gas through Ukraine,” the document says.
The European Commission also warns that abandoning Ukrainian transit would require replacing it with gas coming through Germany, Italy or Turkey, which would lead to increased transport and storage costs, which would be an additional burden for these EU countries. The situation is further complicated by the unilaterally imposed gas export duty by Germany.
However, an analysis of the documents of the European Commission over the past five years shows that the basic scenario in its forecasts related to climate and temperature conditions is always based on theses about global warming. Thus, in the situation with the cessation of transit through Ukraine in winter, the EC, with a high probability, expects to avoid the most severe consequences, hoping for a positive effect of climate warming.
On the other hand, the transfer of Austria, Hungary and Slovakia to transit gas supplies through Western European countries will increase the degree of their dependence on the rest of the European Union, which is beneficial to the European Commission, writes Politico.
2024-03-03 09:53:00
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