Lithuania provoked the European Commission’s (EC) investigation against Gazprom, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian gas monopoly’s Board Alexander Medvedev said. “Lithuania, which is one of the provocateurs of the EC study, does not understand the parameters of the contract which it wants to consider with Gazprom”, Medvedev said, delfi.lt reports.
“Whereas these issues have been solved for the long term with one of the main gas buyers (in Lithuania – BNS), the company Achema”, Medvedev added.
Medvedev announced that he intended to meet with the EU’s Deputy Competition Commissioner in the nearest future.
The CEO of the enterprise Gazprom Export, controlling the whole exports of Russia’s natural gas, attacked the EC for its “unfair play” and accused the “Brussels regulators” of monopolism.
“There is a saying – the cap burns on the head of a thief. In this case, it should burn on the head of the European Commission too”, Medvedev said.
According to him, Gazprom, which pioneered the reforms on the European market, continues to suffer from being blocked from access to gas pipes, yet it respects the laws of the countries in which it operates.
“I hope that we will be able to resolve the questions that arose through a dialogue with the EC. I plan to meet with the Deputy EU Competition Commissioner in the nearest future and discuss all the issues while looking into his eyes”, Medvedev said.
The EC announced last Tuesday that it had launched an official investigation on whether Gazprom, which accounts for 36 percent of gas supplied to Europe, had used its dominant position in Central and Eastern European markets in breach of the EU’s antitrust rules.
The EC is conducting an investigation on three possible actions by Gazprom, allegedly restricting competition in Central and Eastern Europe. It has been specified that Gazprom might have split the gas market, thus preventing free gas supply through the territory of the EU countries, that it might have hindered the diversification of gas supplies, and might have set unfair costs to customers by linking the costs of natural gas to those of oil.
Translated by Rimantas Kleiva
