Word: europeanate
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...attempting to wean itself off its addiction to Russian gas with a new pipeline. On Monday, five European governments signed an agreement in Ankara to build the Nabucco gas pipeline, which will bring Middle Eastern and Central Asian gas to Western Europe via Turkey and the Balkans - completely bypassing Russia. (See pictures of the changing face of Europe...
...Although the 2,050-mile (3,300 km) pipeline is still at least six years away, officials hailed the "new silk road" for finally bringing some balance to the E.U.'s energy security. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the Nabucco project "is of crucial importance for Europe's energy security and its policy of diversification of gas supplies and transport routes...
...every year. But Nabucco could break Russia's stranglehold over countries that are most dependent on its gas and most vulnerable during winter cutoffs, such as Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. That dependence has also long undermined the E.U.'s efforts to create a common market for European energy, with transparent pricing and a single negotiating stance with suppliers like Russia...
...Funding is another issue. The European Commission has promised $350 million from the E.U.'s $7 billion economic-stimulus fund to jump-start the project, and the European Investment Bank has said it is prepared to finance up to a quarter of the pipeline's cost, about $3 billion. But with other private and public sources hesitating to commit, Nabucco's future is still in doubt...
...Even if Nabucco succeeds, the E.U. will face other challenges, says Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy at the London-based Centre for European Reform. "Nabucco is only part of the puzzle to improve Europe's energy security," he says. "It also needs to reduce its overall consumption, improve its efficiency, create a fully liberalized energy market and speak as one voice when it deals with Moscow." With so much to do before the E.U. can secure its own energy future, odds are it will continue to rely on Russian gas for many years to come...