The Danish government’s approach to Nord Stream 2

Published 10-04-2017

The Danish government has continuously stressed the importance of the EU engaging in the Nord Stream 2 issue in order to ensure a European discussion of the wider political implications of the project. At the same time it has been important to get clarification as to whether the proposed project is in compliance with existing EU legislation.

The Danish government will apply a twin-track approach to the Nord Stream 2 issue.

Politically, the Danish government welcomes the fact that the European Commission has decided to engage with the issue of Nord Stream 2 – both in terms of a possible proposal for new EU legislation applying to off-shore pipelines as well as the Commission’s intention to request a mandate from the Council to negotiate an agreement between the EU and Russia on the matter. The Danish government expects to adopt a favourable stance towards both of these initiatives.

Moreover, the Danish government notes that the current Danish legislation does not allow for taking into account foreign and security policy considerations when assessing applications for off-shore pipelines within territorial waters. In this context, the current discussions on Nord Stream 2 have led to renewed reflections as to whether this is a reasonable state of affairs.

Against this backdrop, the Danish government will be proposing a bill which will allow foreign and security policy considerations to be taken into account when dealing with this kind of applications. In doing so, the Danish government has not decided whether or not such new legislation will be applied to the specific application at hand.

Administratively, the application, which was received on 3 April 2017, will now be taken forward by the Danish Energy Agency on the basis of existing rules and legislation.

 

Contact info

Special Advisor
Andreas Thyrring
Phone: +45 22 73 51 02
Mail: andth@efkm.dk

Press Officer
Rasmus Bjørn
Phone: +45 41 72 90 77
Mail: rasbj@efkm.dk

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