EU rules may thwart Gazprom – Wyborcza.biz

In September last year, Gazprom signed an agreement with German companies BASF and E.ON, Austrian OMV, French Engi and Anglo-Dutch Shell agreement setting up a company that will work through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 from Russia to Germany.

Gazprom judge then , that the undersea part of the pipeline will not be subject to the provisions of the so-called EU. the third energy package, which are counter monopolies in the energy sector. In accordance with the provisions of the “third package” of companies trading in gas, such as E.ON and its partners in the West, can not directly manage the pipelines, not to block competitors access to the pipe.

But according to the agency Bloomberg, the legal experts of the Directorate General EU. Energy believe that the provisions of the “third package” also apply to those sections of the Nord Stream 2, which would be arranged in the territorial waters of Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. According to the EU lawyers, quoted by Bloomberg, therefore without significant changes to the project Nord Stream 2 should be subject to the provisions of the third package concerning the ownership and management of pipeline, determining tariffs for gas transmission, as well as access by other companies to use the pipeline.

will put Gazprom from EU law?

“Because Gazprom and EU shareholders [Nord Stream 2] control companies engaged in the extraction / gas supply, they could only have completely passive minority stake in the company, which would be the operator of the transmission system “- posted EU experts in the document quoted by Bloomberg.

the EU experts admitted also that the Commission EC could apply a broad interpretation of the EU rules or release Nord Stream 2 with a duty to fulfill EU legislation, but it is “a matter of political rather than legal.” With the release of the Nord Stream 2 with EU requirements would entail the same relief for other offshore pipelines for gas imports from outside the EU, as indicated in the expert. As a result, Gazprom could return to the plan arrangement for the Black Sea South Stream gas pipeline to the Balkans. The resignation from the investment announced Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2014. Claiming that led to the European Commission, demanding adaptation of South Stream to the provisions of the “third package”.

The opinion of the Directorate-General. Energy does not it is binding on the European Commission. But its representatives repeatedly asserted that check the conformity of the Nord Stream 2 with EU law, including compliance with the provisions of the “third package” of energy.

Earlier, the Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the antitrust laws of the Union and demanded that Gazprom He has to comply with them.