EU to discuss energy with Putin
October 20, 2006
European Union leaders are meeting in southern Finland to discuss how to ensure stable supplies of energy.
They will be joined for dinner by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country supplies a quarter of the gas and oil consumed in the EU.
The leaders will urge Mr Putin to improve conditions for EU companies to invest in Russian energy projects.
They will also call on Russia to find the killer of the murdered journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.
The summit's Finnish hosts say its purpose is to encourage the EU to "speak with one voice" in its energy dealings with Russia.
Good atmosphere
They, and the European Commission, want to avoid a situation where Russia sells energy to one EU country on one set of terms, and to another on less advantageous terms.
They also want European investors to have the same access to the Russian energy market as Russian companies have to Europe's market, and the ability to use Russian pipelines to export any gas and oil they produce in Russia.
Before they meet Mr Putin, the leaders will also discuss proposals for increasing energy imports from the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian, Middle East and Gulf regions.
A Russian official quoted by Reuters said Mr Putin was ready to address European concerns about energy and that Moscow expected the discussion would take place in the "traditional good atmosphere".
Immigration
Other items to be discussed at the informal summit include:
- Climate change, which the UK and Dutch prime ministers said on Thursday was close to a "catastrophic tipping point"
- Ways of improving innovation in Europe, turning inventions into new products, jobs and patents
- A European Commission proposal for European Institute of Technology, which would pool Europe's resources and help universities and business collaborate
- A plea from Spain and Italy for more help to deal with a large flow of African immigrants arriving by boat
- The problem of Darfur, and appeals for the EU to put more pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the killing of civilians
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, who currently holds the EU presidency, has said he will raise the subject of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow earlier this month, at the beginning of the dinner.
"As you well know, we have from the EU side a demand to make a full investigation about the murder and we are expecting that Russian authorities can find the murderer," he said.
Correspondents say it is possible that the leaders will also ask Mr Putin to explain his country's latest actions against Georgia.
EU foreign ministers issued a statement on Tuesday expressing "grave concern" about the economic, political and humanitarian consequences of Russia's sanctions against Georgia, and urging Moscow "not to pursue measures targeting Georgians in the Russian Federation".
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