Energy Policy at the crossroads: How Nord Stream 2 is challenging the Internal Energy Market

Abstract

Nord Stream 2 is possibly one of the most debated and controversial topics in energy policy and it has been so since feasibility studies for this project started in 2011. According to the European Commission, ‘the Nord Stream 2 project does not contribute to the Energy Union objectives of giving access to new supply sources, routes or suppliers […]; it could allow a single supplier to further strengthen its position on the European Union gas market and lead to a further concentration of supply routes’. In addition, it would endanger existing transport routes via Ukraine. But why is Nord Stream 2 so controversial and why does it seem to put at risk the very functioning of the Internal Energy Market as argued by the Commission?