The EU Court of Justice made an unpleasant decision for Russia
The EU Court, in a lawsuit filed by Poland, overturned the decision of the European Commission of October 2016 on Gazprom’s access to 90% of the capacity of the Opal gas pipeline, which is an overland continuation of the Nord Stream through Germany.
Kommersant reports this, noting that this decision will have serious consequences for Russia.
It is noted that the decision was extremely unexpected, since at the beginning of 2018 the EU Court of Justice had already rejected a similar claim by the Polish state-owned company PGNiG, based on similar arguments, according to which Gazprom’s access to Opal carries unjustified privileges for German consumers and at the same time can reduce the transit of Russian gas through Poland .
Now the court has found that the European Commission violated the principle of energy solidarity. At the same time, we are talking not only about supplies to Poland through Belarus, but also through Ukraine. At the same time, the court did not assess that deliveries are now also going in the opposite direction - from Poland to Ukraine.
The European Commission will most likely file an appeal, says Sergei Glandin, special adviser on sanctions law at the Pen & Paper Bar Association.
“The basis for canceling the decision of the European Commission is quite shaky: this is the lack of a formal examination of the impact of the operation of the pipeline on the energy interests of other EU member states. Germany may request and conduct such an examination, as a result of which Poland’s claims will lose their basis,” the lawyer said.
“However, the position of the EU Court of Justice on the issue of “energy solidarity” jeopardizes Gazprom’s overall strategy to build bypass gas pipelines to stop transit through Ukraine. The main danger is that now it will be extremely difficult for Gazprom to agree with the European Commission on an acceptable mode of use of Nord Stream 2, half of whose capacity may be unavailable to Gazprom due to amendments to the EU gas directive. Poland will certainly insist that Nord Stream 2 could cause damage to it, citing the decision of the EU Court of Justice,” the publication notes.
Previously, Gazprom planned to conclude a short transit contract with Ukraine, during which time the construction of Nord Stream 2 and the Turkish Stream would be completed. Now Gazprom cannot be sure that it will be able to use the new capacities.
Maria Belova from Vygon Consulting believes that the decision of the EU Court of Justice, published a week before consultations between Russia, Ukraine and the EU on transit scheduled for September 19, looks politically biased.
“The goal is to drag Gazprom into a longer transit contract with Ukraine,” she says. At the same time, Naftogaz executive director Yuriy Vitrenko called the decision of the EU Court of Justice a “pleasant surprise.”
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