For five years, Andris Piebalgs of Latvia oversaw the hot seat in the European Commission, that of the energy portfolio, at a time when the European Union was becoming more dependent on Russia for its energy needs. Russia used energy as a political weapon and Piebalgs found himself involved in both, along with other energy issues that became a dominant part of the EU’s strategies, especially since the EU is supporting the Nabucco gas pipeline over the Russian-proposed South Stream, which has created tension and disagreements over whether both could be built and if there will be enough supplies to sustain Nabucco if it is.
 



Commissioner Piebalgs, you are now under the Development portfolio. How are you easing into this transition?

Well in a way there is some relation because I have dealt with a lot of countries that have oil and gas, first of all because it is commercial relations, but also for transparency, all the income that this natural resource richness is also giving a lot of, or should be giving a lot of impact for development of the countries. I dealt also with energy projects for Africa,  so I am not completely newcomer in this dossier, but it is definitely a huge shift, because development policy is not only ACP countries it is much broader, and we have also a lot of our internal policies that we would like to bring in development portfolio. The first objective for us is to reach millennium development goals, but at the same time we would definitely like to have this time to see the oldest countries prosperous, and not locked in poverty, analphabetism, bad health system, so I think there are a lot of tasks that I think are important for the Union.

I hope you have very good progress under the development portfolio, but going back, you have probably been the best energy commissioner so far for the years of the European Commission. We have had lots of controversy in terms of SouthStream and Nabucco. What is the future of these projects?

As you know that the Commission, we are very strongly behind Nabucco. So next year I expect there will be a final investment decision taken for the building of Nabucco. So I think Nabucco’s future is rather safe. But South Stream, it’s a much longer progress, because the pipelines are much more ambitious. And I dare to say it is very much related also on gas transit issue via Ukraine. Because we have Ukrainian transport system, and with the crisis, and also with more energy efficiency, we don’t need so much gas as some people expected two or one years ago. So basically good use of Ukrainian transport system could help perhaps not to invest in South Stream, but we will see.

Ukraine and Russia created problems last year. We had the gas crisis, have, has this crisis now completely disappeared, or will we never have such a situation again?

Well I would be happy to confirm what you are saying, but unfortunately it is not the case. At this stage, we are very vigilant. We are living from month-to-month. We made a huge preparations in case, but at the same time could say that both sides, Russia and Ukraine, do everything possible that this conflict doesn’t come during this winter or next winter. But there are still some preconditions for it. I hope that we will manage gradually to phase out the possibilities of this type of conflict because it is an interest for European Union, for the Russia, and for the Ukraine. But it will take time, and I will say that all hard work from all three parties, at least two years are necessary to answer your question to say no there are no risks.

Now you are not a new Commissioner anymore, how does this new European Commission tie together? Will there be a new European vision?

Well, is it Barosso Two. I think he gave his political guidelines. I wouldn’t that say we are going in a completely new direction. Because what we are going is closer to the citizens, closer to the core of the European Union, all our policies will be more focused, we will try to definitely better communicate what we do on a European level, because these vision is not sufficient, you also need implementation, but also communication. So communication will be one of the keys  to deliver to the people what we have done and what we are doing. We have a quite an important task, I believe where there will be new focus, because of economic crisis. Economic crisis has slowed down, we believe that we have better economic forecast, but still a lot of things need to be done in this period, to get good recovery, to deal with unemployment that could grow in 2010, and really provide strong for very economic growth in the European Union, and good perspectives for employment. So it is a huge task, but I think it is important that we deal with it.

You placed increased importance in communication, but now under the new commission there is no Directorate General for Communication anymore. How do you elaborate this?

Well as you know, we have the most experienced and most professional commissioner, Vivane Reding, responsible for this, so I believe that, in all the preparations now, before the hearings, pay particular attention to it, because it’s not important to make decisions, it’s important to communicate before, why you do, during the process, how you do, and after the process also what has been achieved. So, we will use existing media, Internet, but it means that commissioners will be much more accessible by journalists. I think that is one of the main preconditions. We should be available 24 hours a day for media

What is your personal vision for Europe, where would you like us to go after Lisbon?

I believe the Lisbon Treaty provides a good way to work. I believe that it’s still the convergence and concurrence of the European Union that matters. For me, for every much matters, like energy market, we could say we have a European energy market, lots of things need to be done. I would say that we would also need a common immigration policy, and say well we have this. We are now dealing with external, common external, actions, so I think we need to deliver a lot of things provided by Lisbon Treaty. But for me as a Latvian, I, well, I would say my main task, is to convince Latvians that the choice they have done, joining European Union, is extremely good for them, for their kids, and for their grandchildren. So I think this could be done only by really demonstrating the huge value added by the European Union. And for us, when we join, it was, well, security I think was the number one issue. Now I believe that we need to manage resource policies, that people in Latvia that the EU, and it is right in a way, grows. Unemployment and jobs depends on the strong EU policies. So I would focus very much on economic policies on growth and employment. I think this are the key areas where we really need to move. And to achieve this, we know from the green energy development, that we need to invest in education and research, and in using this, to create the products with the higher value added. So it’s a huge task that involved everybody, but I think prosperity and jobs is now what matters, at least from the countries that I come from

Andris Piebalgs has been designated to head the Development portfolio in the new European Commission Cabinet. He is the outgoing European Commissioner for Energy, a former Minister of Finance for Latvia, and was Deputy Secretary of State, responsible for Latvia’s relations with the EU