Economist: Donald Tusk's energy union: Paying the price

Galvanised by the growing uncertainty over Russia, Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, is pressing his EU partners on creating an energy union that would reduce Moscow's dominance over European energy markets.

But Poland – which imports about 60% of the 16 billion cubic metres of gas it uses every year from Russia - would be on much sounder footing had it moved significantly faster to develop its own shale gas industry in recent years. Having not done so, the Poles now pay one of the highest prices in Europe for Russian gas – about $500 per 1,000 cubic metres compared to about $370 paid by Germany.

Mr Tusk's main ideas are for the EU to jointly negotiate gas contracts with Russia, for the contracts to have no secret clauses and for the European Commission to play a role in all future energy talks with Moscow. “Europe should confront Russia's monopolistic position with a single European body charged with buying its gas,” he wrote recently in the Financial Times.
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