“The government on Friday received a reply from Gazprom, which has been handed over to the energy minister who is chairing a task group charged with negotiations with Gazprom. The proposals will now be reviewed and studied together with lawyers. The government will not make any comments as to the content of the proposals,” Evelina Butkutė Lazdauskienė, spokeswoman for Butkevičius, told BNS on Monday.
As reported, talks between the parties would continue once Gazprom sent its proposals in writing.
Butkevičius said after the meeting with Miller on September 6 that the negotiators would continue talks after receiving written proposals from Gazprom.
The parties then refused to make any comments about the conditions under which Gazprom might reduce the price of its gas for Lithuania. They said, however, that the negotiators were discussing a 5-billion-litas (EUR 1.45b) claim lodged by Lithuania with the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal as well as a long-term gas supply deal. They assured that the implementation of the EU’s Third Energy Package was not on the table.
Miller then said that further talks would deal with Gazprom’s investments in Lithuania, transit to the region of Kaliningrad and “commercial issues”.
The Verslo Žinios business daily reported earlier on Monday, citing sources, that Lithuania’s representatives said at the meeting with Miller that Gazprom could apply to Lithuania the same discounts it applied to Latvia or Estonia from as early as October 1 to show its goodwill.
At the same time, an unnamed Lithuanian official told the daily that Lithuania was not inclined to make any concessions as far as other matters of negotiations were concerned. The country’s negotiators believe that if a 5-billion-litas suit filed against Gazprom with the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal were to be withdrawn, Gazprom should apply the pricing that would reflect the 5-billion-litas damages sustained by Lithuania’s consumers from 2008.
