Nearly half of the member states of the EU support the amendment to the 'gas' directive proposed by the European Commission to cover gas pipelines arriving in the EU from third countries, such as the Russian gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2, but several countries want clarifications on a number of pertinent legal questions, said the Vice-President of the Commission with responsibility for the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, on the sidelines of the Davos World Economic Forum on Thursday 25 January.
“Half of the EU member states very much support both the mandate [to negotiate with Russia on the regulatory framework for Nord Stream 2: Ed] and amending regulations, but there is also a group of countries which insist on further legal clarification, not only from the Commission, but from the Council legal service”, Sefcovic said, reported several media sources. He went on to say that discussions are “stuck on this legal issue. It is very difficult to predict [when the amendment will take effect: Ed]”.
In early November 2017, the Commission tabled a proposed amendment to the 2009 'gas' directive to clarify the regulatory framework for gas pipelines entering the EU from third countries and thus create a framework for the controversial Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project (see EUROPE 11900).
The aim of this amendment to the 2009 'gas' directive is to state clearly that the fundamental principles of EU law in the field of energy (third-party access to the network, pricing rules, unbundling of ownership structures and transparency) will apply to all gas pipelines to and from third countries once on EU soil.
With this amendment to the 'gas' directive, the Commission hopes to get around the stalemate of talks at the Council on its mandate request proposed on 9 June to negotiate a legal framework for the operation of Nord Stream 2 with Russia, so as to ensure that its offshore and coastal sections operate in line with the fundamental principles of international law and EU energy and competition legislation (see EUROPE 11805). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)