Polish state-held gas company PGNiG has taken legal action against a deal reached in May 2018 by the European Commission (EC) and Gazprom to settle an anti-trust case and save Gazprom a fine.
Eastern EU members have been claiming for years that Gazprom abused its dominant position as a major gas provider and started anti-trust proceedings against Gazprom. In May 2018, after 11 years of investigations, Gazprom agreed to benchmark prices in eastern Europe against prices in the rest of Europe and to abandon clauses restricting the re-export of gas by its clients in the Central and Eastern European gas markets. Gazprom now has to ensure competitive gas prices and facilitate gas flows from and to isolated markets, in particular the Baltic states and Bulgaria.
PGNiG estimates that Gazprom continues to violate the EU antitrust law and to inflate gas prices to its recipients in Central and Eastern Europe. PGNiG's appeal will be examined again by the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg.