The key facts

  • The EU Court upheld the lower court's decision on Nord Stream 2 AG's lawsuit against the gas directive
  • The court found the requirement to separate the supplier from the infrastructure justified
  • In parallel, the company is challenging the regulation on phasing out Russian gas; Slovakia has filed a similar lawsuit

Operator's appeal rejected

The Court of the European Union upheld the lower court's decision, which had dismissed the lawsuit filed by Nord Stream 2 AG against the provisions of the gas directive. This follows from the published court ruling, as reported by Gazeta.Ru citing Interfax.

The court's arguments

The court recalled that the lawsuit was directed against the principle that a gas supplier should not independently control the infrastructure used to deliver gas to buyers. In the court's view, this requirement is justified, as it aims to prevent dominant suppliers from abusing their position. The court also noted that Nord Stream 2 AG had received no promises from the European Union that the directive would not apply to Nord Stream 2.

Parallel lawsuits

This is not the company's only legal proceeding: in late April, Nord Stream 2 AG filed a lawsuit against the European Parliament and the Council of Europe demanding the annulment of the regulation on phasing out Russian gas. The company argued that the document was adopted in violation of the proper legal basis and effectively deprives it of the ability to use the pipeline for commercial purposes, and that the EU violated the principles of proportionality, property rights, freedom of enterprise, and equal treatment. Earlier, Slovakia filed a similar lawsuit. Thus, the ruling on the directive does not close the issue entirely for the operator: the fate of the separate regulation on phasing out Russian gas remains the subject of a separate dispute.