EU Commission sues Poland over cross-border gas trade and minors' procedural rights

"Poland's national gas storage legislation requires undertakings using storage facilities outside Poland to book firm transport capacities and prohibits such undertakings to trade those capacities in case of non-use, except for the case of a gas supply crisis," the EU Commission said in a statement regarding the measures imposing additional costs on cross-border gas trade.

According to the Commission, gas suppliers using storage facilities in Poland are not subject to such restrictions, which risk distorting and hampering the functioning of the internal market, as well risking security of gas supply.

Poland's climate ministry said in an emailed statement that the Commission's position seemed "incomprehensible and mistaken".

"Poland has repeatedly indicated that... due to its significant dependence on imports of natural gas from Russia, the mechanism of maintaining mandatory stocks was based on the key assumption that the possibility of supplying natural gas be guaranteed at all times in the event of the need to release compulsory stocks," the ministry said.

"However, thanks to the ongoing diversification policy, which enabled a change in the structure of natural gas supplies to Poland (to become fully independent from deliveries from the East), it is now possible to undertake work on changing the natural gas storage system," it added.

The EU Security of Gas Supply Regulation lays down requirements to be respected by all Member States in order to prevent potential supply disruptions in the EU and to respond to them in a spirit of solidarity. To ensure that Member States can benefit from supplies from neighbours in case of a gas supply crisis, the Regulation provides measures specifically designed to guarantee a continued supply and to mitigate the impact of an emergency.

While security of supply obligations that go beyond the standards defined in the Security of Gas Supply Regulation are possible, they are subject to compliance with strict conditions, such as proportionality, non-discrimination and not unduly distorting competition or hampering the functioning of the internal market.

The European Commission is to sue Poland also over its failure to implement EU rules on minors' procedural rights.

The EU executive does not agree with Poland's assessment that certain legislation concerning minors under the age of 17 are not criminal proceedings, it said in a statement.

The commission said it would ask the EU Court of Justice to impose financial sanctions on Poland.