![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/region-europe.jpg)
Latest Articles about Europe
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/TAP_office_-_EDM_July_31__2013.jpg)
TAP Project Consortium Restructured in Line with Market Priorities
The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project consortium is being thoroughly reconfigured, reflecting the producers’ and shippers’ options for marketing Azerbaijani natural gas in Europe.On July 30, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR), BP (formerly British Petroleum), and Total of France—gas producers at Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan—entered the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Belarusian_Potash_Company_-_EDM_July_30__2013.jpg)
Minsk’s Defense Against Russian Tycoon Takeovers
The Belarusian parliament has selectively revived the so-called “golden share” rule that applied between 1997 and 2008. According to that rule, the state’s representatives on the board of directors of any privately owned enterprise could block various decisions made by its management team. The existence... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Mihail_Formuzal_-_EDM_July_29__2013.jpg)
Moldovan Sovereignty and Gagauz Autonomy: A Balance Vulnerable to Moscow’s Mischief
From 1990 until 1994, Moldova faced two secessionist, Russia-oriented “republics” on its territory: Transnistria and Gagauzia. The autonomy settlement, negotiated by Chisinau with the Gagauz in 1994, retrieved Moldova’s southern territory that had at that stage been practically lost. It also succeeded in de-coupling the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Gagauzia__Comrat_-_EDM_July_26__2013.jpg)
Improved Political Representation Can Strengthen Gagauz Allegiance to Moldovan State
Moldova faces multiple Russian proxy operations to destabilize the country ahead of the European Union’s November 2013 Eastern Partnership Summit. Among such proxies, Gagauz radicals of 1990 vintage seek a more far-reaching level of Gagauz territorial autonomy, with hints at possible secession. Although marginal in... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Gagauzia__Moldova_-_EDM_July_26__2013.jpg)
Tinkering with Gagauz Autonomy Can Destabilize Moldova
On July 24, the chief executive official (bashkan) of Moldova’s Gagauz autonomous territory, Mihail Formuzal, called for upgrading the autonomy’s status to that of a republic, on an equal footing with Transnistria, in the event that Transnistria receives republic status in a federalized Moldova (Unimedia,... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Ramzan_Kadyrov_-_EDM_July_23__2013.jpg)
More Chechens Fleeing Chechnya ‘at Peace’ than Had Fled Chechnya ‘at War’
Nearly 10,000 Chechens have sought political asylum in Germany since the start of 2013, an unprecedented number that is nearly six times as great as the flow a year earlier—and greater than the number of Afghans and Syrians doing so in the course of the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Su-27_Ukrainian_-_EDM_July_22__2013.jpg)
Ukraine’s Air Defense: Balancing Between CSTO and NATO
Ukraine is preparing to take part in air defense exercises with Russia and Belarus and a multilateral air force exercise in Kazakhstan, all to be held by November 2013 (https://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/200/2013). Minsk and Astana are key Russian allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/OPAL_pipeline_-_EDM_July_22__2013.jpg)
Gazprom Resists Application of EU Law on Opal Pipeline in Germany
Russia’s Ministry of Energy and Gazprom want the European Commission to exempt the biggest pipelines in Germany, OPAL and NEL, from the European Union’s energy market legislation. OPAL and NEL are Gazprom’s joint ventures with Wintershall in Germany. The EU’s Third Legislative Package requires vertically... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Romanian_new_Prime_Minister_Victor_Ponta_and_President_Traian_Basescu_at_the_Cotroceni_Presidential_Palace_in_Bucharest__capital_of_Romania..jpg)
Romanian Gas Pipeline Might Free Moldova from Gazprom’s Monopoly
Visiting the Republic of Moldova on July 17, Romanian President Traian Basescu announced the imminent start of the construction of a natural gas pipeline to connect Romania with Moldova. The work is planned to start on August 27 (Moldpres, July 17, 18). Its modest size notwithstanding, this... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Gas_pipelines_-_EDM_July_18__2013.jpg)
TAP Gas Consortium Looks at Markets from Bulgaria to Britain
Gas marketing options of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project consortium may look either flexible or vague at this point. Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) seems the only reassuring exception in this regard among the Shah Deniz gas producers. SOCAR had indicated all along that gas... MORE