Iveta Radicova, Prime Minister of Slovakia meets Angela Merkel in Bratislava, Slovak Republic
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is travelling to the Slovak capital to meet her counterparts from Central and Eastern Europe in talks expected to focus on energy security and regional co-operation.
The future of the eurozone and other EU-related issues are also high on the agenda of the annual meeting of prime ministers of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland whose countries form an informal grouping known as the V4.
Merkel, together with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov are scheduled to join Tuesday's meeting that marks the 20th anniversary of the group.
Slovak PM meets Vladimir Putin (Russian PM) about joint gas venture to link Austria to russian gas. The Slovak side seems to want to incentivise Russia through a 3-party win-win.
What is being proposed is to link the Austrian market to the soviet era pipeline that ends in Bratislava. This pipeline only needs a few kilometers of extension to be linked to the austrian market and network.
Click on the map to see more detail:
Slovakia will gain by giving Russia a big reason not to cut supply to europe as it would inconvenience more european countries.
Below there is a video talking about the fledgling deal:
In related news: According to the European Union energy commisioner gas consumers won’t suffer if Ukraine starts another transit war with Russia this winter.
Kiev blocked transit pipelines from Russia last January in a payment row, leading to power cuts across the EU. But Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs says they've agreed ways to avoid Ukraine altogether.
AP: “Our gas storages are 100% full, we've increased all types of switching opportunities for countries which can't cover gas for a very long period. We also have emergency plans if they are needed. On the Russian side I believe there are also plans for increasing supply from other pipelines if there is a problem with one of them. During January there will be more gas flowing through the Yamal Europe pipeline. So it is important that both sides reunite and that the final consumer does not feel threatened at all.”
More background on the pipeline and it's significance (from wikipedia): Druzhba pipeline (Russian: нефтепровод «Дружба»; also had been referred as the Friendship Pipeline and the Comecon Pipeline) is the world's longest oil pipeline, it carries oil some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) from southeast Russia to points in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Germany.[1] The name "Druzhba" means "friendship", alluding to the fact that the pipeline was intended to supply oil to the energy-hungry western regions of the Soviet Union, to its "fraternal socialist allies" in the former Soviet bloc, and to western Europe. Today, it is the largest principal artery for the transportation of Russian (and Kazakh) oil across Europe.
History
On 18 December 1959, the 10th session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), held in Prague, adopted a decision and an agreement was signed on construction of a trunk crude oil pipeline from the USSR into Poland, Czechoslovakia, GDR and Hungary.[2] Each country was to supply all necessary construction materials, machinery and equipment. In 1962, first oil reached to Czechoslovakia, in September 1963 to Hungary, in November 1963 to Poland, and in December 1963 to GDR. The whole of the pipeline was put into operation in October 1964. The first oil pumped through the Druzhba pipeline originated from the oil fields in Tatarstan and Samara (Kuybyshev) Oblast. In 1970s the Druzhba pipeline system was further prolonged at the expense of parallel lines.[3]
Route
The pipeline begins from Almetyevsk in Tatarstan, southeastern Russia, where it collects oil from western Siberia, the Urals, and the Caspian Sea. It runs to Mozyr in southern Belarus, where it splits into a northern and southern branch. The northern branch crosses the remainder of Belarus across Poland to Schwedt in Germany.[2] It supplies refineries in Płock and in Schwedt. The northern branch is also connected by the Płock-Gdansk pipeline with the Naftoport terminal in Gdansk, which is used for oil re-exports.[4] In Schwedt the Druzhba pipeline is connected with the MVL pipeline to Rostock and Spergau.
The southern branch runs south through Ukraine. In Brody the Druzhba pipeline is connected with the Odessa-Brody pipeline, which is currently used to ship oil from the Druzhba pipeline to the Black Sea. In Uzhgorod the pipeline splits into lines to Slovakia (Druzhba-1 - original Druzhba route) and to Hungary (Druzhba-2). The line through Slovakia is divided once again near Bratislava: one branch leading in a northwest to Czech Republic and the other going southward to Hungary. The Druzhba-1 pipeline branches off toward Hungary at Ipeľ, crosses the Hungarian border at Dregelypalank and leads to Százhalombatta.[2] In Hungary, the Druzhba-1 pipeline supplies Duna refinery while Druzhba-2 supplies Duna and Tisza refineries.[5]
The Mažeikių refinery in Lithuania and Ventspils oil terminal in Latvia are connected to the main pipeline by the branch pipeline from Unecha junction in Bryansk Oblast. This branch has ceased operation in 2006 and is not likely to become operational in any time soon.
The part of Druzhba pipeline system, which runs via Belarus, is 2,910 kilometres (1,810 mi) long. The length of the pipeline in Ukraine is 1,490 kilometres (930 mi), in Poland in 670 kilometres (420 mi), in Hungary 130 kilometres (80 mi), in Lithuania 332 kilometres (206 mi), in Latvia 420 kilometres (261 mi), and in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic together around 400 kilometres (250 mi).[2][6]
Technical features
The Druzhba pipeline currently has a capacity of 1.2 to 1.4 million barrels per day. Work is currently underway to increase this in the section between Belarus and Poland. The pipe diameter of the pipeline varies from 420 millimetres (17 in) to 1,020 millimetres (40 in).[3] It uses 20 pumping stations.
Operators
The Russian part of the pipeline is operated by the oil company Transneft through its subsidiary OAO MN Druzhba. In Belarus the operator is Gomeltransneft Druzhba, in Ukraina UkrTransNafta, in Poland PERN company, in Slovakia Transpetrol, in the Czech Republic Mero and in Hungary MOL.[7]
Schwechat–Bratislava two-way oil pipeline project was proposed in 2003. It would allow to supply the OMV owned Schwechat Refinery from the Druzhba pipeline.[7]
Slovak officials said later on Wednesday that they had secured new supplies to cover consumption until the end of January. Slovakia, which gets almost all its gas from Russia, declared a state of emergency on January 6th, under which gas deliveries to large clients were reduced, causing about 1,000 companies to shut down or cut production. Fico said that the Slovak government had stressed Ukraine’s responsibility for the crisis and said it had “negatively affected Ukraine’s credibility.
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Here in Bratislava the government is already being aided by Austria and Germany as well as France in terms of Gas shipments. Nobody has noticed any difference in heating and all is normal for now.
However right after this crisis is over I think its high time that we extend the western european gas pipeline that reaches as far as Vienna which is just a few kilometers from the slovak border and Bratislava. The supplier countries on that side are many but chiefly Algeria.
The EU needs to understand Slovak concerns and allow the nuclear plant at bohunice to switch on at full capacity. It is in good condition and has been modernised because Slovakia was hoping that it would be okayed by the austrians that are chiefly against re-opening it.
of course the minute the crisis is over Slovakia would mothball the plant again.
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Ukraine, Russia Agree to Hold Gas Talks in Moscow on Jan. 17
By Kateryna Choursina Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The governments of Ukraine and Russia will meet on Jan. 17 in Moscow in an attempt to resolve the natural gas dispute which has disrupted deliveries of the fuel to European Union for nine days.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed gas supplies and agreed on the meeting by phone at midnight yesterday, according to a statement on the Ukrainian government Web site today.
Timoshenko sent a telegram to Putin guaranteeing Ukraine will ship to European countries all gas supplied by Russia to Ukrainian pipes “apart from 8 percent of gas used to fuel gas pumping,” according to the statement.
Talks between Ukraine and Russia on the price for gas deliveries to Ukraine and transit fee Russia pays for shipments to Europe via Ukrainian pipes have reached deadlock. Russia cut all deliveries to Ukrainian consumers on Jan. 1 and stopped supplying gas to Europe on Jan. 7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YEfgueY172g#t=332sHistory of Bratislava - Pozsony - Presporok - PressburgBratislava
City capital of Slovakia. Settled first by Celts and Romans. As Pressburg, it developed as a trade centre and became a free royal town in 1291. The first university in what was then Hungary was founded there in 1467. The city served as the Hungarian capital (1541 – 1784) and was the seat of the Diet (parliament) until 1848. The Treaty of Pressburg (1805) was signed here by Napoleon and Francis II following the Battle of Austerlitz. After World War I, on the formation of Czechoslovakia, it became capital of the province of Slovakia, and it became the national capital on Slovakia's independence in 1992.
Bratislava is an important road and rail center and a leading Danubian port. A well-diversified industry produces textiles, chemicals, and metal goods; during the Communist period, heavy industry was focused on the production of armaments.
Forests, vineyards, and large farms surround the city, which has an active trade in agricultural products. It is also a popular tourist center. A Roman outpost called Posonium by the 1st cent. A.D., Bratislava became a stronghold of the Great Moravian Empire in the 9th cent. After the death of Ottocar II (1278), Bratislava and much of S and E Slovakia fell under Hungarian rule. From 1541, when the Turks captured Buda, until 1784, Bratislava served as Hungary's capital and the residence of Hungarian kings and archbishops.
The kings continued to be crowned there until 1835, and Bratislava was the meeting place of the Hungarian diet until 1848. Inhabited largely by German traders before the 19th cent., the city then became predominantly Magyar. In the 19th cent. it was the center of the emerging Slovak national revival, and after the union of the Czech and Slovak territories in 1918 it was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. From 1939 until 1945, Bratislava was the capital of a nominally independent Slovak republic that was governed by a fascistic pro-German regime responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Czechs and Jews. The Univ. of Jan Comenius (1919), the Slovak Academy of Sciences, a polytechnic university, a national theater, and several museums are in the city. The 9th-century castle, above the Danube, was rebuilt in the 13th cent. St. Martin's Cathedral, the Franciscan convent and church, and the old town hall are also 13th-century buildings. The new town hall occupies an 18th-century palace, formerly the residence of the primates of Hungary; the Treaty of Pressburg was signed there in 1805.
About this Blog
Decided to start a Blog about Bratislava, and the politics of the country because most of the blogs about Slovakia and Bratislava in english were either brief entries from travellers passing through Bratislava with no idea about the place and commented largely about beer and other "vital issues" like that, or the more serious ones usually run by moronic americans preaching their judaeo-christian hyper-religious extreme-pro-capitalist & oligopolistic anti-democratic religion coupled with their famed grasp of geography.
There are also some Brits that have a slightly better grasp of geography than their US cousins. However brits are largely trying to recreate colonial glories and their grasp of facts in Bratislava tends to be confused even at the BBC. Most of the experiences the brits have are from lager-lout type pissups in Bratislava and use that crap movie "Hostel" as their intellectual compass.
This blog aspires to discuss serious matters with humour and no-nonsense analysis. Its unapologetically intellectual and refuses to allow this term to be ascribed with a negative meaning the way that the word liberal has become negative in the US.
Clearly there is much love about this great city and country, but without pandering to any special interests or prejudices.
Comments are welcome and will never be deleted or blocked if they offer a contrarian view.
About this Blog on Bratislava - Slovakia - Central Europe - the EU - and global trends
About the bear in the picture.
Macko Usko is a bear with a floppy ear, who is a celebrity in Slovakia and the mountains behind him (Tatra) offer the best skiing after the alps. Macko has attitude and is an opinionated bear as you can see.
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