Filenews 2 May 2022
By Kostas Raptis
'Clarity' is being asked for - which is a different way of saying that the right pretexts are being asked for the EU to maintain both its prestige and its dependence on Russian gas, which it proclaims that it wishes to shake off without actually being ready for it.
Today's meeting of the "27" in the wake of the interruption of the flow of Russian gas to Poland and Bulgaria is in fact a battle between the Commission and those member states that appear willing to join the new payment mechanism demanded by Moscow, by opening accounts in roubles to Gazprombank, so that the bank can convert the receipts into the Russian currency from the euro.
The Commission's original instructions were open to interpretation – which were used by stakeholders. But last week Ursula von der Leyen proclaimed that joining this mechanism is a violation of European sanctions against Russia. Which of course was exactly the reason why Putin inspired this scheme.
More than any other reason, more than the need to support the exchange rate of the Russian currency, which has returned to pre-invasion levels in Ukraine, the Kremlin strongman's aim was political: to confront Europeans with the extreme logical consequences of their actions in order to force some of them to undermine their own sanctions.
This is in fact, as the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has made clear once again in his statements, a response to the most daring move so far by the West, namely the freezing of the foreign reserves of Russia's central bank.
Since the proceeds from natural gas are made in euros or dollars and are compulsorily placed in Western banks, the commitment implies that the price of any future sale will be inaccessible to sellers.
But "free lunch", as we all know, does not exist. And natural gas (in contrast to Russian oil from which the EU is easier to de-dependence) has a specific, for the time being irreplaceable supplier capable of meeting the needs of countries such as Germany.
And the company Uniper, which has contracts for the supply of 22 bcm of gas per year, or half of German imports, declares that it will join the Gazprombank mechanism. And it has the support of sectors such as the chemical industry, which in any disruption of the supply will suffer a severe blow, which will be transferred to powerful shareholders such as the German savings banks and insurance funds.
According to Bloomberg, in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday with the permanent representatives of the member states, Poland and Bulgaria, supported by Greece, Slovakia, Denmark, Latvia, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and Finland, complained about the lack of clarity and detail in some of the Commission's guidelines.
Poland in particular stated that the selective interpretation of the Russian decree is a tool for splitting EU solidarity from Russia, while together with Bulgaria on the one hand they argued that Moscow's move does not pose a direct threat to their economy at this stage, and on the other hand they accused the other partners of benefiting from alternative supply arrangements.
However, any insistence by the Commission on the strict position that the currency conversion through Gazprombank is also a violation of sanctions will mean that a number of companies from different Member States will be faced with the EU infringemenet procedure and the fines it entails.
Hence, escape routes are being sought, such as the confirmation that the transaction with Gazprom is completed when the amount is deposited in euros, before it is converted into the second account, while at the same time Poland and Bulgaria will be covered with additional gas provided by neighbours such as Germany and Greece.
Source: Capital.gr
