Last week the European Commission published its long awaited gas package. The usefulness of the proposed measures on security of supply and oversight on bilateral energy agreements notwithstanding, it was interesting to see the biggest elephant in the room being notably absent from any of the proposals.
The one development that threatens to unravel the entire Energy Union – the Nord Stream II pipeline – did not feature at all. Despite differences of opinion on whether or not EU law applies to the project, the risk that Nord Stream II confines the Energy Union to the dustbin is too high. For that reason, the commission would do well to not give ground and let the courts decide whether the project is in line with the law writes Sijbren de Jong in his column for EUObserver.
The full article can be read here.