At the European Council on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 March, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo raised the controversial issue of the Russian Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project, berating the European Commission for failing hitherto to present an economic impact assessment of a project which has aroused the distrust of some of the Baltic states and the hostility of several Eastern European countries.
According to a diplomatic source, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said that Nord Stream-2 was a “private project” that was not for the Commission to interfere with as it linked a member state with a third country, but that the Commission was watching carefully to ensure that EU law is not broken. To be able to deliver a “political response” on this issue would require it to be discussed in the College of Commissioners, Juncker pointed out.
Addressing the concerns expressed by the European Parliament and by Denmark and Sweden in the Council, at the end of February, Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete assured European energy ministers on 27 February that the EU did not support this project which would double the capacity of the Nord-Stream pipeline between Russia and Germany and that the Commission was monitoring carefully to ensure the full compliance of the project in every respect with EU law (see EUROPE 11734). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)