#Germany #Russia #EU @GazpromDE #NordStream2 #NorthStream2
The prospect is fading that the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline leading from Russia to Germany can be operated as planned.
The prospect is fading that the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline leading from Russia to Germany can be operated as planned.
On Friday, the Federal Network Agency in Bonn rejected an application from Gazprom's subsidiary Nord Stream 2 AG to exempt the project in German territorial waters from the applicable EU regulation. The third gas directive prohibits, among other things,
that suppliers and pipeline operators are the same as in the case of Gazprom and Nord Stream 2. It also enables network access for other suppliers and makes specifications for cost regulation.
The regulatory authority bases its decision on the fact that the pipe line had not yet been completed on May 23, 2019; the completion would have justified an exemption. Nord Stream 2, however, argues that, according to the legal basis,
it is sufficient to "have completed" the commitments on the reporting date. The company had "made irrevocable investments worth billions long before the European Commission announced its plan to change the gas directive," the company said in an initial response.
Now the case should land in front of the courts. In its decision, the network agency points out that Nord Stream 2 AG can appeal against this and have the decision reviewed by a court. The company said it would take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights,
"including contesting this decision in German courts." The background to the dispute is the so-called amending directive to the third EU gas directive and the German energy industry law, which complies with European regulations Recorded in late 2019.
The regulations stipulate that pipelines from third countries in the waters of EU countries are also subject to European law - with the corresponding requirements and restrictions for the operators, which Gazprom does not want to accept.
Exemptions from the scheme are only possible if the project has been completed before that date and if it does not endanger competition on the internal gas market or security of supply in the Union. Nord Stream 2 sees all of this as a given.
The Federal Network Agency now unequivocally writes that it rejected the application "because Nord Stream 2 had not yet been completely relocated on May 23, 2019". This means that the tube line is subject to EU regulations and German regulations when commissioned.
This includes the requirements for unbundling ("unbundling"), network access and cost control. The responsible decision-making chamber understood the concept of completion as "structural and technical", while the applicant,
ie Nord Stream 2 AG, represented an "economic-functional understanding". Neither the EU member states, which had been asked to comment on the application, nor those invited, had joined the company's reasoning.
This announced on Friday: "Nord Stream 2 does not agree with this decision and continues to take the view that the pipeline was completed on May 23, 2019 in the economic sense."
International legal experts had confirmed that a reduction in the term "completed “On the completion of the physical construction of a gas pipeline violates the principle of protection of legitimate expectations and other fundamental rights of EU law and
also violates the German Basic Law. The rejection of the exemption application makes the "discriminatory effect of the amended EU gas directive even more obvious". Nord Stream 2 had previously contested the change before the European Court of Justice and in arbitration.
The group reiterated its position that the new pipeline was a fully approved project "that would be built in accordance with national and international law." The operation of Nord Stream 2 would "meet all applicable legal requirements".
Nord Stream 2 also stated that the building permits would not be affected by the decision as they were based on different legal bases. "Therefore, the procedures regarding the gas directive have no impact on the completion of the construction work."
The company said that by the end of 2019, more than 2,300 of a total of around 2,460 kilometers of the pipeline had been laid. Then, however, the United States threatened to impose sanctions on those involved in the project.
As a result, Nord Stream contractor Allseas stopped work: "Since then, the laying work has been suspended." Nord Stream made it clear that the European Commission had also described the American sanctions as a violation of international law:
"We are forced to look for new solutions to lay the remaining 6 percent of our pipeline, ”it said. The companies involved in the project are convinced that "the fastest possible commissioning of the pipeline is in the interests of Europe's energy security,
European consumers, the EU's economic competitiveness and climate protection commitments."
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