German political scientist Alexander Rahr said that the European Union needs a modern infrastructure for the “flawless penetration” of blue fuel from Russia to the western part of Europe and the Ukrainian gas transportation system (GTS) is not suitable for this, writes “Economics Today”.
Rahr stressed that neither Germany nor the United States intends to invest in the Ukrainian gas transportation system on Kiev’s terms: the Ukrainian authorities want to preserve the current ownership structure. According to the political scientist, the ideal option from the European point of view is the formation of a trilateral gas transportation consortium with the participation of Germany and Russia. Previously, this option was offered in the 2000s, but Ukraine at that time refused the offer.
“Ukraine refused out of greed. This decision was not correct. Would agree then – and today Ukraine with all its storage facilities would be a hub distributing Russian gas across Europe. Ukraine just missed this opportunity. Today she sees Russia as an enemy in everything, but this cooperation would be brilliant in all respects. Then there would be no need for by-pass pipes”, Rahr told PolitWera’s YouTube channel.
According to the political scientist, a prerequisite for the gas transportation consortium in Ukraine is Kiev’s deprivation of the transit monopoly, which the Kiev authorities use as a lever of pressure on Russia and Europe. Rahr noted that Poland has become a benchmark in this matter, where the GTS “is operated by a private company with state participation, and the operation of the pipe depends only on the market.”
“There is never a problem with the Polish pipe, which also passes large volumes of gas from Russia, because Poland does not sit on the pipe, like Ukraine, pulling out all possible money from there. There, private companies under state control invest in the pipe and make money on it, as it should be done”, the expert emphasized.