Nord Stream 2 Sues EU over Russian Gas Ban

Nord Stream 2 AG has filed a lawsuit with the EU’s second-highest court, seeking to overturn the bloc’s binding phase-out of Russian gas imports.

The Gazprom-controlled Swiss company argues that the measure effectively prevents it from commercially operating the pipeline without compensation.

The EU approved legislation this year to halt all Russian gas imports by the end of 2027. The aim is to permanently sever energy ties with Moscow after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Nord Stream 2 AG claims the ban is effectively a sanction and should therefore have required unanimous approval by all member states. Because the EU adopted the measure by qualified majority, the company argues that the legal basis is flawed.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was completed in 2021, but Germany halted the project shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and it never entered operation. The wider Nord Stream system consists of two double pipelines under the Baltic Sea, built to deliver 110 billion cubic meters of gas a year to Germany. After explosions in 2022, only one of the four lines remained undamaged.

(Reuters, bak)