Special treatment for Nord Stream II must end

The European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) has today adopted proposals that would see the Nord Steam II project brought under internal market rules.

In today's vote on the revision to the Gas Directive, a majority of MEPs followed the Green/EFA group's call for a level playing field for all suppliers in the market. The position of the ITRE committee is that EU internal market rules on transparency, access for third parties, and ownership unbundling must also apply to offshore gas pipelines such as the planned Nord Stream II pipeline.

Greens/EFA shadow rapporteur Claude Turmes comments:

"This a step towards greater energy solidarity in the EU. The derogations afforded to any pipeline project need to be placed under much stricter scrutiny by the Commission. The Nord Stream II project is particularly unacceptable. It undermines the principle of solidarity in the energy union by exposing Central and Eastern European Member States to Putin's gas blackmail and limits our ability to comply with the Paris Agreement by locking us into a gas future. It must be abandoned. Despite today's progress, the Commission still needs to come up with a long-term strategy to phase out the use of natural gas, a fuel that is incompatible with our climate commitments.       

"The position of the parliament shows the way forward, but negotiations with the Council are likely to be tense. We hope Member States will be able to look beyond short-term national interests."