Parliament lashes out after gas cuts to EU countries

The leader of parliament’s largest political group has branded Russia’s decision to pull the plug on gas supplies "unacceptable".

The attack by EPP-ED leader Joseph Daul comes after Gazprom, the state-owned Russian gas group, cut off all supplies to Europe travelling through Ukrainian pipelines.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Daul called on the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, to take immediate action to help restore supplies.

"Europe must defend those states neighbouring Russia which now find themselves in an emergency and without gas supplies," he said.

His comments come as exports of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine appear to have completely stopped amid the ongoing dispute over gas supplies between the two countries.

The EU depends on Russia for about a quarter of its total gas supplies, some 80 per cent of which is pumped through Ukraine. But Gazprom alleges that Ukraine has been stealing gas in transit to Europe.

The list of countries reporting a total halt of Russian supplies via Ukraine now includes Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia and Serbia.

Italy and Austria say they have received only 10 per cent of their expected supply, while Hungary’s gas transmission company said it had limited natural gas consumption for industrial users.

Russia stopped supplying gas to Ukraine on New Year’s Day in a row about unpaid bills and the failure to agree a new pricing contract.

The European commission has demanded that gas supplies to the EU are immediately restored, a view endorsed by Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski.

Addressing the same news conference in parliament, the foreign affairs committee chairman said, "The situation has now become both alarming and very serious, as gas supplies from Russia, via Ukraine, have been cut off to the majority of EU member states.

"This is an emergency which requires emergency action. It is unacceptable that citizens and industry are being made to suffer as a result of a dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

"The EU should not stand aside while this continues. It can be an honest broker and play a key role in settling this dispute."

Saryusz-Wolski will chair an extraordinary meeting of the foreign affairs committee on Thursday to which Alexey Miller, chairman of Gazprom, and Igor Didenko, deputy chairman of Naftogaz, the Ukrainian gas company, have been invited.

Parliamentarians from Russia and Ukraine will also take part in the meeting, organized by parliament’s delegation to the EU-Russia parliamentary cooperation committee.

Meanwhile, European commission president José Manuel Barroso has issued a statement after speaking to both Russian president Dmitri Medvedev and Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, warning that the two countries' reputations as reliable gas suppliers to the EU are at stake.

And America’s ambassador to the EU, Kristen Silverberg, has said that the security of gas supplies to Europe is "essential for stability in regional and global energy markets".

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