EU says needs more talks with Gazprom over competition dispute

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The European Commission needs to hold further talks with Gazprom before seeking feedback on concessions submitted by the Russian state gas exporter aimed at resolving a competition dispute, the EU's antitrust regulator said on Tuesday. Gazprom, Europe's largest gas supplier, said in December it had filed proposals with the Commission, seeking to resolve a five-year EU case over the Russian gas giant's alleged monopoly practices. "We still have some exchanges with Gazprom before we are ready to market test the commitments but I do hope we will be able to do that soon and we're exchanging that with Gazprom more or less as we speak," Margrethe Vestager told a news conference. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Mark Potter)