Publication

This paper argues that the January 2006 gas cut off in the Ukraine encouraged EU policymakers and the media to focus on the wrong Russian gas issue. The paper considers the extent of the likely gas deficit and determines that if no action is taken by 2010, the EU may be facing a deficit. The damaging consequences of such a deficit are then outlined for Russia, the Central and Eastern European member states and the older Western EU member states. The paper goes on to argue that an over-arching liberalized market structure needs to be built in Russia and the EU. The paper concludes by examining the short- and long-term measures that can be deployed to close the deficit.