By MAGGIE I. JARUZEL
[UPDATE: After three weeks, Ukraine and Russia ended their fuel dispute by signing a joint 10-year contract. This action reversed an earlier decision that had cut off all Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine.]
International media reports say Russia’s decision in early January to withhold fuel shipments to Ukraine has adversely affected more than a dozen European countries during an unseasonably cold winter.
Still, Iliyana Nikolova -- executive director of the
Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation, a Mott grantee located in Sofia, Bulgaria -- says something good could come from the energy emergency.
“Civil society organizations in Bulgaria are asking questions about our total dependence upon Russia for our fuel,” Nikolova said.
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| Iliyana Nikolova |
“Citizens are starting to hold politicians accountable for the decisions they have made. It is good when people get interested in what their government is doing. That’s democracy.”
The current energy shortage in Central and Southeast Europe started after Russia cut off fuel supplies to Ukraine on New Year’s Day. Since then, disagreements between the two countries have left thousands of Bulgarian with little or no fuel to heat their homes, businesses and schools.
As a result, many schools are closed and companies have sent workers home, which is costing the business community an estimated $39.6 million per week, Nikolova said.
Even after the dispute is settled and the natural gas begins to flow again, it will take an estimated three days before the fuel reaches Bulgaria, Nikolova said.
But few people are sitting idly by waiting for the crisis to pass, she says. Instead, elected officials are implementing emergency strategies to conserve fuel, such as running trams and buses without heat, despite the unusually cold temperatures. Additionally, national leaders are exploring whether they can get European Union (EU) approval to open sections of nuclear energy stations that were closed as a prerequisite to acquiring EU membership.
Gas pipelines in the region |
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| Source: BBC News Online 1/18/08 |
With temperatures hovering around minus 6 Fahrenheit (minus 21 Celsius) in some places –- which is far below the normal range of 46 to 50 F (8-10 C) -- some people have purchased electric heaters to keep warm, Nikolova said. But that option is too expensive for most Bulgarians, she says, noting that Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU.
Located in Southeastern Europe and bordering the Black Sea between Romania and Turkey, Bulgaria’s only natural gas pipeline originates in Russia and runs through Ukraine Moldova, and Romania. While other countries are increasing their fuel supplies from other sources to make up for the Russian stoppage, Bulgaria does not have that option; it is the only EU member country that gets its entire fuel supply from Russia alone, Nikolova says.
For her, it is difficult to understand why national leaders did not enact policies to secure fuel from other countries that would have prevented the current shortage, especially because Bulgaria has spent most of the past two decades moving toward democracy and away from its dependence upon the former Soviet Union.
“As an EU member state, people are not happy to be dependent upon Russia again,” Nikolova said.
“It’s the new ‘cold war.’ Very literally it’s the cold war because the weather here is the coldest it’s been in a long time. But it’s also like the old cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Bulgaria is caught in the middle of something we had nothing to do with.”
Still, she sees a potential bright spot because the crisis has forced people to seek answers to questions they never would have asked before.
“Civil society organizations have to play a much bigger role in holding the government responsible for its actions. They have to be asking questions such as, ‘Who signed the (natural gas) contracts with Russia?’ Nikolova said.
“Bulgaria has parliamentary elections coming up this summer and I hope this fuel crisis has gotten people more interested in that. I hope it will help people realize that we can make a huge change in our country by voting.”