François Fillon said Wednesday that the conflict between the Russian company Gazprom and Ukraine "is not dangerous in the medium term" for supplies to France, while the country is going through a cold wave.
"We cannot allow this situation to take hold, but it is not dangerous in the medium term for French supplies," said the Prime Minister while visiting RTE's National Center for the Operation of the French Electric System. (Public electricity transport network).
On the other hand, he added, "it is dangerous for other European countries".
"For the moment, it is not necessary" for France to build up stocks, also said the head of government. He stressed that France depended on Russia for “around 15%” of its gas supplies.
Gazprom stops deliveries to Ukraine
The control room of Russian giant Gazprom has officially given the order to completely stop the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, Russian agency Interfax reported on Wednesday. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered gas giant Gazprom to cease all deliveries of natural gas through Ukraine, Russian agency Interfax reported on Wednesday.
But will the European Union end up getting angry? Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country presides over the European Union for six months, warned on Wednesday that if Russian gas deliveries to Europe "weren't restored by tomorrow, there would be more intervention. EU farm ”.
>> Do we risk being deprived of gas? The answer here!
A reaction that comes when Russia has stopped all transit of its gas intended for Europe through Ukrainian territory.
At 7.44 am local time, "Russia has left Europe without gas," Ukrainian spokesman Valentin Zemlianski said.
The head of the Czech government did not specify what form the reaction of the EU could take, which again called on Wednesday in a statement "an urgent solution" to the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute and an "immediate resumption" of all deliveries to Europe.
A position also shared by the International Energy Agency.
A more serious crisis than in 2006
"The current gas crisis is much more serious than the one we experienced in 2005-2006, it is in a way unprecedented", he added, "the two countries are more aggressive when it comes to to assert their interests ”.
According to him, not only the countries of Central Europe and the Balkans but also Germany - Gazprom's main customer within the EU - "will experience problems in the coming days if the situation remains unchanged".
>> Also read the interview with Catherine Locatelli, specialist in Russia.
The European Commission proposed Wednesday morning in Moscow and Kiev to send observers to Ukraine to measure the volumes of gas actually passing between the two countries, according to a spokesperson.
"We demand that the two parties return to the negotiating table," said Ferran Tarradellas, the Commission spokesperson in charge of energy issues. while recalling, however, that Europeans "are not going to be mediators".
>> The animation on the gas situation in Europe, it's here
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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday called on Russia to resume "immediately" the transit of its gas to Europe via Ukraine, in a letter sent to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, and to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.
From economic conflict to political conflict
For his part, the number two of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, accused Wednesday in Berlin Ukraine of having cut all gas deliveries to Europe, which according to him presents "Serious technical problems" for gas pipelines.
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy Javier Solana said, for his part, that gas should not be used "as a political instrument".
"We must not use oil and gas as political weapons, we must be able to find professional mechanisms", which have "no ups and downs of a political nature", added Xavier Solana, on the Spanish National Radio (RNE).
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