The European Commission has issued a statement regarding Gazprom's proposed commitments in Central and Eastern European markets, considering that "Gazprom's commitments will enable the free flow of gas in Central and Eastern Europe at competitive prices" and that they will "help to better integrate gas markets in the region".
Gazprom is currently under an allegation of abuse of a dominant position regarding its business practices in eight member countries. In 2015, the European Commission sent a Statement of Objections expressing its preliminary view regarding Gazprom's activities in eight European states. The company has been alleged of breaking EU antitrust laws and has been suspected of several antitrust practices such as the partitioning of gas markets, impeding the free flow of gas via the territory of the aforementioned eight states, obstructing the diversification of gas supplies and pegging the gas price to the oil price.
In December 2016, Gazprom proposed to allow cross-border flows of gas in Central and Eastern Europe and to remove all restrictions to resell gas cross-border in these markets. Gazprom also committed to ensure that gas prices in Central and Eastern Europe reflect competitive price benchmarks and that the company can't act on any advantages concerning gas infrastructure, which it obtained from customers by having leveraged its market position in gas supply.
The European Commission has expressed its satisfaction with Gazprom's commitments and invites comments from all interested parties before issuing a final decision by 4 May 2017.
The current case aims to put an end to Gazprom's previous actions which prevented the free flow of gas in these eight states, namely Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria.
The process is not completely over since the European Commission will have to probe the other stakeholders of the file before its final verdict on 4 May 2017.
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