Tusk urges EU states to act quickly on the Nord Stream 2 scheme

The President of the European Council Donald Tusk has sent a letter to EU leaders, urging governments to address the draft amendments to the gas directive as soon as possible, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) said citing EU sources. Representatives of the European Parliament have already declared that they will deal with this subject under the so-called fast legislative path, but EU member states have not made such declaration. Poland, along with many CEE countries oppose the proposed gas link saying that it would increase EU's dependency on Russian gas, plus it would bypass Ukraine, which would further hurt Kiev interests at Russia expense. Proponents argue that the project would bring more cheap gas to Europe. Gazprom is working with Germany's Uniper, Austria's OMV and France's Engie on the scheme. The EC Gas Initiative's revision of the Gas Directive is the result of various legal studies, which, depending on who they were preparing, differed in whether the maritime part of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should be subject to the restrictions of the third energy package, which, after its amended, says that gas supplier and pipeline operator can not be the same entity. The EU regulations also say that other companies must have access to such scheme. Such regulations would make the Nord Stream 2 project less profitable for Gazprom.