Barroso and Putin spar over gas deal

Relations between the European Union and Russia are occasionally difficult, and the joint press conference given by José Manuel Barroso and Vladimir Putin on 24 February will be remembered as a shining example of this. EUObserver reports that the Russian Prime Minister announced that the EU’s Third Energy Package, a bundle of laws that obliges energy companies to split up production and distribution assets, "violates our common framework agreement,” and will pave the way for the "confiscation of Russian property.” Commission President Barroso responded that Russian gas was much needed in the EU, “But we pay for it. We pay for it well. We are very good clients.” Vladimir Putin warned that in the light of the situation in Libya and the Third Energy Package, the EU will have to contend with higher gas prices, which will be even more expensive "if the Union does not let Russia build its South Stream pipeline under the Black Sea.”