"On the legal side of things, it has become very clear that the [European] Commission do not find that the Nord Stream 2 project will be a project of common interest… It raises a number of legal concerns that are still being analyzed right now and to finalize, I think, president [European Commission’s President Jean-Claude] Juncker said that we have a preference for projects that unite rather than divide. So it is still open what colleagues can do legally in this case," Vestager said.
"There's a legal approach and there's also a market approach. And my colleagues in charge of this, [European Commission Vice-President Maros] Sevkovic and [European Commissioner for Energy Miguel Arias] Canete… have stated very clearly that they don't see a need for a new infrastructure of the magnitude of Nord Stream 2," Vestager said.
Nord Stream 2, a joint venture of Russia’s Gazprom with France's Engie, Austria’s OMV AG, Royal Dutch Shell, Germany's Uniper and Wintershall, is estimated to bring an estimated 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea, while bypassing Ukraine. The launch of the pipeline is planned for 2018.
