Commissioner Vestager: No Competition Approach to Nord Stream II Thus Far
The European Commission is not working on a competition case on Nord Stream II, as the project connecting Russia with Germany is now on the desks of European Commissioner for Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič.
"So far, we don’t have a competition portfolio approach to that," Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager briefly said on Monday, referring to the Gazprom-led project intended to double capacity of the Nord Stream pipeline.
Her discussion with Bruegel seems to suggest that the Commissioner for Competition will rather focus on price signals, and on the economic incentives to promote the Energy Union - a project she referred to as the number one energy priority in the European Union. In doing so, Vestager probably wanted to defuse accusations of countries seeing in her position a strong political tool in the hands of the European Union.
Earlier this month, Lithuania’s MEP Gabrielius Landsbergis asked both Vestager and Šefčovič to take an active position against Nord Stream II, saying that the project runs against the Energy Union objectives.
Šefčovič and Cañete repeated in several occasions that Nord Stream II is not a priority for European institutions, explaining that the pipeline expansion should fully comply with European legislation.
Vestager refrained from speaking about single countries and made short comments on single cases, redirecting the attention to companies and markets.
“Any company with operations in the EU can turn to us if they suspect rivals don’t play by the rules or are themselves engaged in anti-competitive behaviour and want to come clean” the Danish politician said on Monday.
RENEWABLES AND HEAVY DUTY GAS TURBINES
In general, Vestager focused her speech on the role of renewables in electricity production, adding that gas has a future in the European energy mix and that Capacity Mechanisms are country-focused projects that should be considered as a last resort options.
The European Commissioner for Competition also discussed the role of heavy duty gas turbines.
“To address the issue of intermittency of renewables and security of supply, it may be necessary to keep enough conventional plants ready as a backup. Heavy duty gas turbines are among the best technologies here, because compared to other fossils are the most environmentally friendly, and can be switched on quickly” Vestager added.
Last month, the Commission cleared GE’s acquisition of Alstom's power generation and transmission assets subject to divestment of parts of Alstom's heavy duty gas turbines business to Italy’s Ansaldo.
“Divestment of Alstom's key technology to produce heavy duty gas turbines to Ansaldo will ensure that European business and consumers continue to benefit from this innovation and know how,” Vestager said on September 8.
BETWEEN-THE-LINES POLITICAL MESSAGES
Vestager is effectively walking a tightrope. She is paying attention to avoid an open confrontation with Berlin following remarks made by German Economy Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who reportedly voiced concern for the growing clout of the European Commission in competition issues.
At the same time, she is showing her intentions to coordinate with the rest of the Commission, supporting other Commissioners to realise the Energy Union, a project that would reportedly decrease the electricity’s footprint on the environment.
“Europe is coming with a very strong mandate for the Paris negotiations to reduce emissions” she said, adding that there are reasons to be optimistic about the future of renewables in the energy mix of a single electricity market.
Vestager underlined that, in the last five years, renewables have become cheaper, with the average costs of onshore wind worldwide falling by 30% and the costs of solar by two-thirds.
In other words, at least at the moment, she is playing safe.
Sergio Matalucci is an Associate Partner at Natural Gas Europe. He holds a BSc and MSc in Economics and Econometrics from Bocconi University, and a MA in Journalism from Aarhus University and City University London. He worked as a journalist in Italy, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. Follow him on Twitter: @SergioMatalucci