The European Commission plans to invest EUR3.5 billion in a natural gas and power network to bypass dependence on the Russia-Ukraine gas pipeline, Handelsblatt reported Thursday, citing an internal document to be released next week.
Russian gas flows to Europe stopped for nearly two weeks because of Russia's payment dispute with the Ukraine. The E.U. plan centers on ensuring that member states can supply one another in case of another gas cut-off from Russia, the newspaper said.