By Martin Banks - 8th January 2009
I deplore the absence of Russia at this meeting. Parliament organised this meeting in good faith thinking it was important to bring both sides together
Romanian Socialist MEP Adrian Severin on Russian officials' failure to show at a parliamentary meeting on the gas standoff with Ukraine
Russia was today accused of "deplorable" behaviour after a top-level delegation from Moscow failed to show up at a parliamentary meeting.
The meeting, organised by parliament’s foreign affairs committee and its delegations to both Russia and Ukraine, was designed as an attempt by the institution to broker a deal between Moscow and Kiev in their bitter gas dispute.
Among those invited were Alexey Miller, chairman of Gazprom - who turned up to meet with parliament's president, Hans-Gert Pöttering, later - Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian Duma and Juri Lipatov, chairman of the Duma’s energy committee. All three failed to show up for the committee meeting.
Only the delegation from Ukraine turned up, represented by Hryhoriy Nemyria, its deputy prime minister, Yuriy Progan, the minister of energy, and Borys Tarasyuk, chairman of the European integration committee of the Ukrainian parliament.
It meant most of the meeting was taken up by MEPs from the foreign affairs committee, some castigating Russia for failing to be present.
They included Romanian Socialist member Adrian Severin, who said, “I deplore the absence of Russia at this meeting. Parliament organised this meeting in good faith thinking it was important to bring both sides together, but the people from Russia have failed to show up.”
His comments were echoed by Finnish Socialist deputy Reino Paasilinna, who said, “In failing to attend, Russia has lost an important opportunity to explain recent events.”
He suggested inviting representatives from both countries to attend next week’s plenary in Strasbourg.
Polish EPP-ED deputy Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, who chaired the packed meeting, said the Russia delegation had been delayed. It appeared the group had had to land in Luxembourg on Thursday due to fog and then made its way by road to Brussels, he said later, adding that he hoped to meet the Russian parliamentarians later in the day.
Meanwhile, in a separate move, senior Socialist MEPs have urged the EU to set up a coordinated gas storage programme to protect member states from cuts in supply.
They said the whole dispute highlighted the need for the EU to diversify its sources of energy so that, in future, it is not dependent on any one country for its energy. The effects of the gas cut-off continue to reverberate across the continent, where some countries have substantial reserves and others do not.
Hannes Swoboda and Jan Marinus Wiersma, both vice-presidents of PES, also called for the EU to take firm action against those responsible for the current disruption of supplies.
Speaking after a gas crisis meeting of parliament’s political group leaders and commission president José Manuel Barroso, Swoboda said EU monitors would on Friday move into position, even though discussions about their mandate had not yet been concluded.
Wiersma, who also took part in the special meeting of the foreign affairs committee, said, “Those who are not cooperating must feel the consequences.
"If it is Ukraine, then it is not possible for the country to have the rapprochement with the EU that it wants. If it is Gazprom, then we cannot have more contracts for pipelines with them, bringing them into our internal market."
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