The Energy Union, launched by the European Commission with the intention to secure energy for consumers at affordable prices, competitive market opportunities for suppliers and strengthened solidarity and trust between EU member states could be at risk due to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, The Parliament Magazine reported.

In fact, the head of the largest party in the European Parliament has launched a scathing attack on the $11b  project to pipe more Russian gas into Germany, Financial Times wrote. Manfred Weber, chairman of the centre-right European People’s party (EPP), said the proposed pipeline would undermine the EU’s foreign and security goals by increasing dependence on Gazprom, Russia’s gas export monopoly.

“The EU risks creating detrimental consequences for the gas supply in central and eastern Europe, including Ukraine, in particular against the background of Gazprom’s announcement to stop gas delivery through Ukraine once Nord Stream 2 is finalised,” he wrote in a letter to Sigmar Gabriel, German Cconomy Minister, and Miguel Arias Cañete, EU energy commissioner.

Moreover, last April Maros Sefcovic, European Vice President for Energy, said the pipeline plans raised a lot of questions, including over its business case in light of the EU’s own gas demand estimates, Reuters reported. In his opinion, Europe may end up with more gas than it needs if the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, designed to double the amount of gas Russia pumps to Germany via the Baltic Sea, is built.

The project aims to deliver 55bcm of Russian gas per year to Europe across the Baltic Sea. In September 2015, Russia’s Gazprom, E.

On, Shell, OMV, BASF and Engie signed a shareholders agreement on the project, Trend wrote.