EU Commission welcomes announcement of gas deal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission welcomed on Sunday the announcement of a gas deal between Russia and Ukraine but warned there had been false hopes before and was waiting to see gas actually flowing to European customers.

“The Commission welcomes the announcement in Moscow of Prime Minister (Vladimir) Putin and Prime Minister (Yulia) Tymoshenko, and in particular the announcement that gas transit to Europe could be resumed on Monday,” it said in a statement.

“But we have seen many false dawns in this dispute, and the ‘test’ in this case is whether or not the gas flows to Europe’s consumers. Until that point, the wait goes on for Europe.”