REUTERS
According to French authorities, they do not want to increase their dependence on Russia.
France supports the amendment of EU legislation that would complicate construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Paris plans to support the review of the so-called gas directive during the vote in the EU, scheduled for this Friday, the European Pravda media outlet wrote with reference to Süddeutsche Zeitung.
According to French authorities, they do not want to increase their dependence on Russia and thus harm the interests of EU countries such as Poland and Slovakia.
The European Commission seeks to obtain an agreed set of EU energy rules that will apply to offshore pipelines, as is the case with land pipelines.
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Brussels will check whether the pipeline complies with EU legislation, whether there is a risk of a negative impact on the European gas market, and whether this will affect the security of supply or competition.
UNIAN memo. The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction and operation of two gas pipeline branches with a total throughput capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. It should connect Russia's Ust-Luga and Germany's Greifswald.
This new pipeline bypassing Ukraine is to be built next to the existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The construction of the pipeline should be completed before the end of 2019. The length of the pipeline will be 1,220 km.
The project is being implemented by Russia's Gazprom in alliance with European companies – ENGIE, Uniper, OMV, Shell, and Wintershall.
Ukraine stands against the construction of Nord Stream 2 as it will most likely lose its status of a gas transit country and its possible revenue losses are estimated at billions of U.S. dollars. The project is also highly criticized by Poland and the Baltic countries.