European Commissioner for Energy

Moscow and Kiev are due to attend a three-way meeting on gas issues in Brussels, the EU Commission has said.

Trilateral gas talks Russia-Ukraine-Commission confirmed. @MarosSefcovic meets with RU & UA Energy Ministers in Brussels on Monday 2 March.

? Anna-Kaisa Itkonen (@AK_Itkonen) February 26, 2015

The EU unveiled plans on Feb. 25 for a continent-wide single energy market to reduce its uneasy reliance on Russian supplies and cut a massive annual import bill of some 400 billion euros.
      

The College of Commissioners adopted its strategy on the Energy Union on Wednesday, which focuses on achievement of sustainable energy union and forward-looking policy on climate change.

Vice-President responsible for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic and Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete presented the strategy.

The European Commission is to present Wednesday a blueprint for the future Energy Union.

The establishment of the energy union is a priority task for the Juncker commission aimed at reducing the dependence of the EU Member States on Russian natural gas and at boosting the energy efficiency of the housing stock, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Television.

The European Union will consider ?reframing? energy relations with Russia based on market conditions when the time is right and for now will focus on its strategic gas partnership with Ukraine, a draft document shows.

Representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia as well as European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič and Commissioner for Climate Action & Energy Miguel Arias Cañete held the first meeting of the Central East South Europe Gas Connectivity (CESEC) High Level Group in Sofia on Monday.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has told EU official Maros Sefcovic that Moscow will no longer pursue the South Stream project, the Commission says.

In a statement the European Commission explains Novak held a phone conversation with Sefcovic, who is Vice President for Energy Union, on Thursday.

The two discussed "the Russian plans as regards the South Stream project."

Tomislav Donchev, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU Funds and Economic Policy, has informed that European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič has been tasked with elucidating Russia's unofficial stance on the South Stream project.

Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva will most likely get the taxation and anti-fraud portfolio in the new European Commission, according to an exclusive report of the EurActiv website. 

Three-party gas negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union will continue on Tuesday in Brussels after the sides failed to reach an agreement on Monday.

The main issues are Ukraine's gas debt and the future prices. Gazprom has warned that if Kiev doesn't repay its USD 5.2B debt, it can stop the delivery.