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Incoming European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said Nov. 4 Andris Piebalgs, who replaced Ingrida Udre as Latvia's nominee for the European Commission, will take up the commission's energy portfolio. Hungarian commissioner Laszlo Kovacs, formerly the nominee for energy, will take Latvia's former taxation and customs post. Piebalgs will be responsible for the EU's energy policy toward Russia, from which the Union imports more than one-third of its total energy supplies.
Piebalgs' appointment marks an interesting turn of events in relations between Latvia and Russia. Latvia, along with Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiburga, is upset about the state-owned Russian company Transneft's halting of crude shipments to the Ventspils port on the Baltic Sea. A Latvian now will be responsible for negotiating the EU's entire energy policy with Russia, and it can be assured Piebalgs will drive as hard a bargain as possible.
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