Polish government appealing Nord Stream decision

The EU’s decision on the Opal pipeline violates the provisions of the EU directive on the common gas market and strengthens Gazprom’s position, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. Hence, the government has appealed to the EU Court of Justice on the European Commission’s decision on the pipeline, which is the land extension of Nord Stream, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanna Wajda confirmed. According to this decision, Gazprom will be able to use more of Opal’s capacity. “Due to the risk of serious injury associated with the consequences of implementing the decision, the Foreign Ministry submitted an application for the suspension,” Wajda remarked. She pointed out that, thus far, the EC decision has not been officially published, although it is important for the security of gas supply, and in fact is already done by the German regulator. A decision by the EC at the end of October of this year changed the terms under which Gazprom can use the pipeline, which runs from the German-Czech border to Greisfald, Germany, on the Baltic. Under the new terms, Gazprom will be able to use 80 percent of the pipeline’s capacity, instead of 50 percent that had been decided in 2009. Wajda added, “This raises a serious risk to the security of gas supplies to Poland by [us] becoming dependent on one source of supply from Russia.”