The pressure on the Nord Stream 2 project in Brussels is increasing. Although there are no prospects of blocking it, Poles and other critics of this undertaking are consistently working on solutions that can at least delay it, and at least partially protect it from member countries through EU law. The Russian party in the European Parliament puts a spanner in the works, writes Wojciech Jakóbik, editor-in-chief of BiznesAlert.pl.
On Thursday 19 April, the European Parliament voted on whether to allow the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) to continue work on the draft revision of the gas directive with the relevant ministers of the Member States. Although the Communists and the extreme right wanted to block the work, there was a return that would allow them to move forward.
The GUE / NGL (European United Left / Nordic Green Left) and ENF (Europe of Nations and Freedom) groups have managed to collect the minimum number of votes necessary to start the vote, which is one tenth of the Members of the European Parliament. They submitted 142 amendments to the report on the revision proposal, whose author is prof. Jerzy Buzek standing at the head of ITRE. These postulates were focused on fourteen compromise proposals for change. Five of them assumed rejection of the revision of the Gas Directive proposed by the European Commission.
However, according to BiznesAlert.pl information, the communists from the European Parliament withdrew at the last moment. This means that the vote scheduled for April 19 may end in failure. The revision of the gas directive, provided that the contested Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project is covered, may at least delay the investment, due to the need to adapt it to the antitrust law.
The problem is, however, that the Russian party in the European Parliament has an ally in Germany, which is to host the Nord Stream 2 project in part on the land territory of the European Union. Germany may make it more difficult to extend it to the revised gas directive if it allows the start of the construction of the German section before the new low comes into force. They advocate against the inclusion of the contested project by European law. In addition, according to the Wall Street Journal, they are to demand protection against sanctions from the US, which included, inter alia, the president of Gazprom, for German-Russian projects concluded before the entry into force of new restrictions. Is it really worth defending the interests of several companies in one line with Marine Le Pen and other anti-European forces?