Gas from the Russian Federation accounts for a quarter of the consumption in the European Union and for more than 40% of its imports. In 2010 essentially all of these imports depended on transit through either Belarus or Ukraine, both being major importers of Russian gas themselves. On both...

For a long time European gas markets used to be dominated by `national champions', vertically integrated firms, controlling imports, transit lines and distribution networks. In its drive to create a common market, the EU commission is trying to overcome this fragmentation by liberalizing...