France can Oppose Germany on the Nord Stream 2 Issue

Paris intends to vote for changing EU rules for operating gas pipelines, challenging the future of the Nord Stream 2 project, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. France intends to oppose Germany regarding the Nord Stream 2 project, reported Süddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday, February 7, quoting unnamed sources in the French government. “We do not want to increase our dependence on Russia and at the same time cause damage to such EU countries as Poland and Slovakia”, the source explained. According to him, Nord Stream 2 has already led to numerous “strategic problems” between the European Union and Moscow. At the same time, the newspaper stresses that neither in Paris nor in Brussels have so far confirmed such intentions of France. It is about the voting of the EU states on changing the rules for ensuring competition and consumer rights in the gas market in Europe (the Third Energy Package) scheduled for February 8. According to these amendments, proposed by the European Commission in 2017, the rules of the domestic market should apply to gas pipelines from third countries, primarily the prohibition to supply gas and at the same time be the operator of the gas pipeline. If changes are accepted, this will seriously complicate the implementation of Nord Stream 2, where the supplier and the operator is Russian Gazprom. Germany opposes this scenario, hoping for support from France, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Cyprus. To change the rules, 16 EU countries of 28, representing at least 65 percent of the EU population, need to cast an affirmative vote. By the end of January, the proposal of the European Commission was supported by at least 12 states. A number of countries assumed a wait-and-see attitude. Source: DW