“We fully respect Lithuania’s decision on the unbundling method, and we are ready to support Lithuania in ownership unbundling,” Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, said at a news conference held after his meeting with Lithuania’s Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius in Brussels on Wednesday.
He added that the Commission also fully supported the ambition to agree with Russia on electricity lines and to seek an agreement that would be more favorable for the Baltic countries.
“However, such an agreement can only be a temporary solution – our long-term aim is to ensure Lithuania’s full integration into European grid,” the Commission President said.
Commission representatives will take part in Lithuania’s consultations with Russia on the implementation of the Community’s Third Energy Package. Lithuania’s officials have said that Russia sought to hold consultations on the implementation of the package in the nearest time.
The Commission said last year that it would hold talks on the management of electricity systems in the Baltic countries pursuant to the requirements of the package. As the electricity systems of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia still remain integrated into Russia’s IPS/UPS network, the management of the power system and the functioning of the market have not yet been aligned with the requirements of the Third Energy Package.
