EU antitrust regulators will this week formally charge Russian gas giant Gazprom with overcharging customers in eastern Europe and hindering rivals in the region,two EU sources said on Monday.
“Statement of objections for this Wednesday,” a source told Reuters. A statement of objections is the term used by the European Commission for a formal charge sheet setting out specific concerns about possible anti-competitive practices.
Gazprom, which supplies about 30 % of the bloc’s gas, has been on the Commission’s radar since September 2012 on suspicion of blocking the free flow of gasacross the region among other things.
European Commission officials said in February they would announce the nextstep in the investigation over the coming weeks.
The European Union adopted a fourth wave of sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine in September 2014. Since then, Gazprom remainedshut out of capitalmarkets. The gas-producing wing ofGazprom, a main supplier to the EU, was not targeted by the sanctions, though.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded angrily, pledging an unspecified “reaction” if the new sanctions were implemented.
Moscow responded to a previous round of U.S. and EU sanctions by banning most Western food imports.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/brussels-to-formally-charge-gazprom/