Poland to urge EU Council to speed up work on gas directive

Poland will call for an acceleration of work on an amendment to the gas directive, which is aimed at the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, at Monday's meeting of EU energy ministers in Luxembourg, an EU source has told PAP. Although the European Parliament has already presented its position on the new legislation, the work of the EU Council drags on. Bulgaria, which chairs the council, claims there are some legal doubts as to the form of the new regulations, and this results in disagreements among EU countries. According to diplomats in Brussels, 10-12 member states, including Poland, want to work quickly on the gas directive, which would tighten conditions for transit of gas to the EU via pipelines that are not part of the '28,' such as Nord Stream 2. However, some other countries, including Germany, have applied for additional analyses at working group meetings, which prolongs the debate.