Despite the fact that the North Stream 2 gas project is wholly owned by Russia and pipes are purchased and laid at its expense, its launch entirely depends on the approval of the Western authorities. Fortunately, at least sometimes there is good news in this regard.
France agreed on draft amendments to the EU Gas Directive. According to the new rules, all decisions on the Nord Stream 2 will be taken by Germany, as the final destination of Russia's gas pipeline. Berlin will independently determine the scope of the Gas Directive. It was reported that Paris had earlier decided to support amendments hindering the implementation of the project. The proposed changes would give the European Commission more powers to control intergovernmental agreements on gas transportation and even ban them. If France supported these amendments, the progress of Gazprom would be in vain.
Interestingly, not long ago, it "does not want to increase the dependency on Russia and thereby harm the interests of some EU countries." Now it has changed its official stance. We can only guess why, but the fact is that this is another victory of Nord Stream 2.
