Romania wins energy-rich area in the Black Sea

In a dispute between Romania and Ukraine that has lasted for forty years the International Court of Justice in The Hague has ruled that the majority of an energy-rich area in the Black Sea belongs to Romania. "If the estimates about the natural resources in this particular area of the Black Sea turn out to be more or less realistic … we have gained not only an economical but also a geopolitical advantage. … Not only could the intelligent extraction of these resources put us in the happy position of becoming independent of Moscow and the pipelines that run through Ukraine. … If the government follows through on its plans of building reactors 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant by 2014, we will be able to supply energy to neighbouring European states with fewer resources. This would be possible above all due to the European Commission having announced that it plans to invest 500 billion euros in building up an energy network connecting the member states in a bid to pre-emt blackmail attempts from the East. This situation puts us in a privileged position within the EU."

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