#Romania2019.eu/Romanian presidency of Council of EU gets support from member states for Natural Gas Directive

The Permanent Representative Committee of the governments of Member States approved the provisional agreement reached by the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union with the European Parliament on the Natural Gas Directive, with the next step being the adoption of the Directive by the European Parliament, the Ministry of Energy announced on Thursday. "I am very pleased we've reached this agreement so quickly. This agreement eliminates a problem existing with EU's legislative framework in the energy field and it guarantees a coherent implementation of the Energy Union norms in the entire EU. By reaching the two consecutive political agreements we got closer to the moment of adoption of the Gas Directive and the closure of this file under the Romanian presidency," stated Minister of Energy Anton Anton. The revision of the Directive on Natural Gas is very important for strengthening energy security in the European Union. The Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU had a crucial role in these negotiations guaranteeing that the Energy Union rules will apply including to the gas pipelines to and from third countries, explained the representatives of the Ministry of Energy. This file has been subject to negotiations at European level for more than a year. The modification of the Directive was proposed by the European Commission in November 2017, but the European Parliament has only made his standpoint known in April 2018. The Council of EU, under the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union, reached a consensus on February 8, 2019. According to the same source, the modification of the Directive on Natural Has will make the legal framework of the European Union equally applicable on the EU territory, it will increase transparency and provide legal certainty for both investors in the gas infrastructure and network users. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Mariana Nita; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)