Brussels, 18/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The heads of state of nine member states from Central and Eastern Europe - the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia - upped the pressure on the European Commission at the European summit on 17 and 18 March to get it to “rigorously” ensure the conformity of the German-Russian gas pipeline project Nord-Stream-2 with EU law and its energy security interests.
In a letter sent on 17 March to the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, they say that the current Energy Union developments are not all going in the direction of boosting energy security through diversification of sources and delivery routes and suppliers - a question of “crucial importance” to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. “There is even a risk of deterioration (…) in the context of new infrastructure projects”, they add, pointing a finger at Nord-Stream-2.
“Nord Stream-2 can pose certain risks for energy security in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, which is still highly dependent on a single source of energy. It would strongly influence gas market development and gas transit patterns in the region, most notably the transit route via Ukraine to Central Europe”, they explain, concerned about “potentially destabilising geopolitical consequences for the region as well as the countries in the immediate EU neighbourhood”.
Moreover, “Nord-Stream-2 would represent neither diversification of sources nor diversification of suppliers. It would increase dependence on an already existing route, which is not in line with the aim of EU energy legislation aiming at increasing the security of supply as well as market liberalisation”.
The nine countries' leaders therefore feel it is “indispensable” that all the legal aspects of Nord-Stream-2 are “carefully” examined to ensure that the third legislative package on liberalisation of the internal energy market, along with EU rules on environmental protection, state aid and public markets “apply to Nord Stream-2”.
They conclude: “We therefore officially call on the Commission to take action to rigorously apply its role as guardian of the Treaty and assess the compliance of the Nord Stream-2 project with the EU energy policy goals and its compatibility with the EU law”, as the European Council put in its conclusions in December (see EUROPE 11457).
The announcement in September 2015, of an agreement between the shareholders of Russian gas company Gazprom and five Western European energy companies (BASF and E.ON of Germany, Engie of France, OMV of Austira and Anglo-Dutch company Shell) to build the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline that is to double the capacity of the Nord Stream pipeline (which has linked Germany and Russia under the Baltic Sea since 2012), has caused an uproar in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)