A Bad Gas Deal For Ukraine As Europe Looks After Its Own Interests
▻http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/10/31/a-bad-gas-deal-for-ukraine-as-europe-looks-after-its-own-interests
The BBC headline tells it all: Russia-Ukraine gas deal secures EU winter supply (via Ukraine). European officials also confirmed the message of the headline. Commission President Manuel Barroso triumphantly declared: “There is now no reason for people in Europe to stay cold this winter,” and European Union energy chief, Guenther Oettinger, announced he was confident that Ukraine would be able to afford to pay for the gas it needed (Says who?). Where are Ukraine’s expressions of gratitude and relief? They are lacking for good reason.
It turns out the month-long negotiations over Ukraine’s gas dispute with Russia were really about securing Europe’s Russian gas. Ukraine was only a side issue. Russia’s incessant propaganda that Europe itself was threatened by Ukraine’s gas cutoff dominated the discussion. Europe pushed Ukraine into a bad deal to protect itself.
What did Ukraine get out of the deal? It received the go-ahead to transfer some one third of the financial assistance it is receiving from the IMF and European Union to pay for the Russian gas, diverting scarce funds from its desperate defense, infrastructure, and reform needs. Ukraine gets to pay Russia one of the highest gas prices in Europe ($378 versus the $304 European average), and there appears to be no agreement as to how much of this gas goes to the gas-guzzling heavy industry of the Donbass, occupied by pro-Russian rebels. Kiev, by the way, has been virtually cut off from Donbass coal and has to buy elsewhere.
On rappelle que l’accord UE-Uk-Ru s’est fait aux conditions russes (prix et paiement d’avance), l’Ukraine peut emprunter pour payer, avec la garantie de l’UE — ce qui n’est quand même pas tout à fait rien…
L’Europe aura du gaz cet hiver, finalement c’est ça qui compte.
