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EU rejected Russian energy proposal

The EU Commissioner on Energy Andris Piebalgs has turned down Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s proposals on changes in the EU Energy Charter.

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Commissioner Piebalgs in a meeting with Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko on 30 April announced that the EU will not consent with the charter changes proposed by President Medvedev. The Energy Charter, the main EU document regulating energy issues – can not be amended, Mr. Piebalgs said, newspaper Kommersant reports. The Energy Charter is signed and ratified by the [EU] countries and its replacement is impossible, the commissioner said President Medvedev in mid-April presented a proposal on the adoption of a new legal agreement in international energy cooperation. That new agreement included the replacement of the EU Energy Charter. Piebalgs also said that the Russian proposals have “too much of a global character”