Agreement on Amendments to EU Gas Directive Reached - Commissioner for Energy

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete confirmed on Wednesday that representatives of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament had reached agreement on amendments to the EU gas directive, dealing with sea sections of gas pipelines and, therefore, Russia's Nord Stream 2 project.

"We just agreed new rules to ensure that pipelines with third countries comply with EU law — improving the functioning of the EU gas market and strengthening solidarity," Canete posted on Twitter.

We just agreed new rules to ensure that pipelines with third countries comply with EU law — improving the functioning of the EU gas market and strengthening solidarity 👉🏻 https://t.co/7OUwt8RIQf #EnergyUnion pic.twitter.com/vqSra8VYuK

— Miguel Arias Cañete (@MAC_europa) February 12, 2019

The amendments to the EU gas directive will be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in the "coming months" and will be then transported into EU law within nine months, the European Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.    

"Following this provisional political agreement, the text of the Directive will be prepared in all EU languages and will have to be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council [of the European Union]. Once endorsed by both co-legislators in the coming months, the new law will be published in the Official Journal of the Union. The Directive will have to be transposed into national law within 9 months," the statement read.    

The agreement, according to the statement, "ensures that the provisions of the Gas Directive are applied on EU territory (land and sea) and provides for effective oversight to ensure the application of EU internal market rules by the national authorities supervised by the Commission."

The Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture between the Russian company Gazprom, Engie of France, OMV of Austria, the Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell, and the Germany companies Uniper and Wintershall. It aims to deliver 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas per year to the European Union via the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine.