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EU Strengthens Energy Ties with Countries in the Black Sea Region
The European Union recently proposed a new plan that will strengthen various cooperative relations with countries in the Black Sea region, especially in the energy field, and will also help stabilize tense regional situations. The Black Sea region is an important oil and natural gas producer in Europe and the main transit point for oil and gas from Russia and Central Asia to be transported to the EU. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and European Neighborhood Policy, said that the region is of strategic importance to the EU's energy supply security and that "it is very important to pay special attention and establish direct relations" with the region. . Bulgaria and Romania in the Black Sea region joined the EU in January this year.Recently, the EU has just reached an agreement with Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Romania and other countries to build an oil pipeline from the Black Sea directly to central Europe by 2012. Waldner said that the EU will also establish formal relations with the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. The Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization was established in 1992. Its member countries include Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, as well as Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, which are already members of the European Union.
The EU's strengthening of cooperative relations with the organization will help promote EU accession negotiations with Turkey, promote the establishment of a closer "strategic partnership" with Russia, and at the same time strengthen its influence on Ukraine and Georgia. This will become an important step for the EU to expand its influence outwards under the framework of the "EU Good Neighbor Policy" (ENP). The new EU plan proposes to strengthen cooperation with countries in the Black Sea region in various aspects such as energy, government management, transportation and environment. At the same time, Waldner said the EU plan would "create a good external climate and contribute to resolving the deep conflicts in the region."
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