EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič: no reason to panic yet about energy

There's no reason yet for the EU to panic, said European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič with respect to Wednesday's statement of Russian Gazprom that Ukraine will be bypassed in Russia's gas exports to Europe within the few next years. Šefčovič, who has returned to Brussels from talks with representatives of the Russian Energy Ministry and Gazprom held in Moscow, pointed out that Gazprom intends to embrace this plan once the Turkish piece of the pipeline is completed. A likely date could be 2019, when all contracts inked with Ukraine are due to expire. Subsequently, Moscow plans to shift all gas exports to the Turkey-Greece border, which for EU would mean the need to construct new energy infrastructure. "I was surprised by such a resolute statement. I came to Moscow as a new representative of the Commission for Energy Union and my task was to examine all spheres of cooperation in energy," said Šefčovič. The Vice-President underlined that Russia represents an important trade partner for the EU and, therefore, he was surprised that Gazprom chose not to communicate with countries it has long-term business ties with before making such a statement.