The Court of Appeal in Warsaw confirmed the decision of the Court of First Instance to cancel the fines imposed by the Competition and Consumer Protection Office on the companies building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, including Gazprom.
According to “Puls Biznesu”, the Court of Appeal rejected the complaint of the Chairman of the Competition and Consumer Protection Office against the decision of the Court of First Instance, which in 2022 conducted proceedings to ban Gazprom and five companies (Engie Energy, Uniper, OMV , Shell and Wintershall) to set up a consortium responsible for the construction and operation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The court rejected the financial penalties imposed on the companies in 2020, amounting to more than PLN 29 billion (at the current exchange rate about $7.2 billion) for Gazprom and more than PLN 234 million (about $58 million) for other companies who were involved in the project. .
The Competition and Consumer Protection Bureau wanted to punish Gazprom. He lost in court
The Competition and Consumer Protection Bureau initiated proceedings against Gazprom and five international companies responsible for financing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in 2018. Two years later, the Bureau’s chairman, Tomasz Chróstny, concluded that Gazprom without permission of the Chairman of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection, had focused on the construction and operation of the pipeline.
Because those punished did not agree with the regulator’s decision, the case was submitted to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (SOKiK). In 2022, the judge issued a judgment favorable to Gazprom and its partners, revoking the decision of the President of the Competition and Consumer Protection Bureau.
Chróstny appealed the verdict to a higher court, which also sided with the Russian company and its partners. Ultimately, the companies building Nord Stream 2 will not pay any fines. The judgment is final.
Who blew up the Nord Stream gas pipeline system and why?
The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, were severely damaged in an explosion in September 2022, but one NS2 pipeline survived. The Kremlin regularly tempts the government in Berlin with the possibility of launching this, but so far without success.
At the time of the explosion, neither pipeline was transporting gas; the commissioning of NS2 was suspended by Berlin due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the transmission of NS1 was suspended indefinitely by Gazprom at the end of August under the pretext of technical failures at the compressor station in Russia.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
