Baltic States – CIS, Energy, EU – Baltic States, Gas, Latvia, Legislation

Karins told LETA that the European Commission has been gathering information about Gazprom for a long period of time. Furthermore, the European Union's (EU) investigators have carried out surprise monopoly surveillance inspections at Gazprom branch agencies in several EU member states.

"About two years ago, a law was passed, revealing intergovernmental agreements in cases where Gazprom signed vendor contracts with EU countries. Due to this, it is safe to say that this is only a matter of time when the European Commission will press charges. This is very real," believes Karins.

The deputy also explained that attention must be paid to how Gazprom will react to these accusations.

"As we know, Microsoft was fined hundreds of million euros in a similar case. This case is similar, as a company is maliciously using its dominating position on the Eastern European market. The main issue is – how will Gazprom react to this," said Karins, adding tough that it is currently very difficult to discuss it. "They could try to find a way to cooperate with the Commission, or claim that the EU law does not apply to them. In this case, they would be forced to acknowledge that the laws actually do apply," believes Karins.

According to the deputy, Gazprom would have to "pay heavily", as, according to current information, in case of a violation of the competition law, the company would have to pay a fine of up to 10% of the global turnover.