EU hits ‘gas law’deal with Nord Stream 2 loopholes

Bloomberg

European Union negotiators agreed on new natural-gas rules that preserve a concession to Germany over its controversial plan to import more of the fuel from Russia.
Representatives of EU governments and the European Parliament approved a revision to gas-market legislation while scaling back hurdles for the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The deal in Strasbourg, France, keeps intact a French-German compromise proposal that last week helped break a deadlock among EU governments and opened the way for an accord with the 28-nation Parliament. The negotiations in Strasbourg lasted almost nine hours, ending just before midnight.
Nord Stream 2, a planned 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) undersea pipeline, has sparked a geopolitical battle within the EU and across the Atlantic. Eastern European countries wary of Russia have gained US support in opposing the project, whose chief political champion in Europe has been German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The critics have also picked up backing from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, which has said the bloc needs to become less dependent on Russian gas and which proposed the revised legislation in late 2017.
The Brussels-based commission said its proposal would end ambiguity over the European rules on gas-import infrastructure by making them explicitly cover all pipelines to and from the EU.