Press Advisories

14. 1. 200913:45

Presidency and Commission urge resumption of gas supply in joint letter

The Czech EU Presidency and the European Commission have strongly urged Russia and Ukraine to immediately resume full flow of gas into the European Union.

In a joint letter, Martin Říman, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, and Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Energy, said that EU monitors are in all relevant places and that all natural gas flows should be supplied in full volumes.

In a joint letter, sent on 13 January and addressed to Sergey I. Shmatko, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, and Yuriy Prodan, Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine, the Presidency and the Commission also warned that the credibility of Ukraine and Russia as reliable partners will be irrevocably damaged should gas supply to European consumers not be immediately resumed.

The full texts of the two letters find attached below.

Please note that fax numbers have been removed from the scanned documents.

Contacts:

Tomáš Bartovský, spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic

bartovsky@mpo.cz, GSM: +420 602 508 328, tel.: +420 224 853 311

Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, Spokesperson, European Commission

ferran.tarradellas@ec.europa.eu, GSM: +32 (0)498 966 293, tel.: +32 (0)296 62 93