Energy Union a green light for human rights abusers, warn NGOs

(EurActiv, 26 Feb 2015) The European Union’s flagship energy project will prop up a rogue’s gallery of authoritarian governments responsible for a string of human rights abuses, while not improving gas supply security, civil society organisations have warned.

Turkey, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and “other potential suppliers in the Middle East and Africa” were named in yesterday’s (25 February) Commission communication on Energy Union. EurActiv understands that Iran and Iraq is also part of the Commission’s long-term thinking, as it searches for alternative suppliers of gas to Russia.

The security situation in many of the countries, due to terrorist groups like ISIS and war in states such as Iraq and Libya, was so unreliable that it made a mockery of the idea they could deliver stable supplies, campaigners said.

Speaking exclusively to EurActiv, Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission Vice-President for Energy Union, denied new supply contracts would entrench dictatorships. He argued that a gradual approach to negotiations would yield progress on human rights.

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EurActiv, 26 Feb 2015: Energy Union a green light for human rights abusers, warn NGOs