Abstract

The EU Court of Justice General Court’s judgment in Case T-883/16 on withdrawal of the Commission’s decision on the exemptions for the OPAL pipeline (an onshore continuation of Nord Stream 1) from some of the provisions of EU legislation in gas sphere on the basis of non-compliance with the principle of energy solidarity may have a great impact on the development of EU gas market with regard to balancing different approaches to external gas supply. This case may also raise some concerns on EU energy legislation from the point of view of impact of political goals on the regulation of the market. Having regard to these issues, the article analyses this case from the perspective of EU case law on application of the solidarity principle to point out the main legal aspects of utilization of this principle and crystallize it from non-legal biases. The article also provides a holistic assessment of the general application of the solidarity principle in the energy sphere and identifying the main gaps on the example of the OPAL case judgment.

中文翻译：

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需要澄清能源团结原则：从总法院对OPAL案的判决中可以学到什么？

摘要

欧盟法院普通法院在T-883 / 16号案件中的判决，关于委员会撤消对OPAL管道（Nord Stream 1的陆上延续）的豁免，该决定免于欧盟关于天然气领域的某些法规的规定不遵守能源团结原则的基础可能会在平衡外部气体供应的不同方法方面对欧盟天然气市场的发展产生重大影响。从政治目标对市场监管的影响的角度来看，此案还可能引起人们对欧盟能源立法的关注。考虑到这些问题，本文从欧盟判例法对团结原则的适用的角度分析了此案，指出了运用此原则的主要法律方面，并从非法律偏见中将其具体化。