RFERL: Endgame Nears In EU's Antitrust Showdown With Gazprom

The Russian natural-gas giant Gazprom has long had its way in Europe, dominating the continent's energy market and, according to critics, flaunting its rules with impunity. But that all might be about to change. 

A long-standing showdown between Gazprom and the European Union over alleged price fixing and monopoly practices -- a dispute pitting Russia's post-Soviet business model against the EU's standards of free-market competition -- is quickly coming to a head.

The dispute is expected to heat up considerably this spring when the European Commission is due to release the findings of a two-year investigation into Gazprom. And the findings are not expected to be pretty, analysts say.

"I think we are going to see, first of all, a spectacular lump of bad publicity for Gazprom, because the complaints will list all of the bad things that Gazprom has been doing, then we will have fines, which may be very substantial, and there will also be the opportunity for the companies that have been overcharged for gas to launch lawsuits against Gazprom over the extortionary prices that they have been charging," says Edward Lucas, international editor at the British weekly "The Economist" and author of the book "Deception: Spies, Lies, and How Russia Deceives the West."  MORE