EU Energy Council, meeting in Luxembourg, backed an approach by the European Commission to seek a mandate for talks with Russia regarding the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

"Just presented our proposal on Nord Stream mandate to EU Energy Ministers. First debate showed strong support for our approach," EU Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said on Twitter.

The European Commission said on June 9 that it had has submitted a request to the Council of the European Union to receive a mandate for talks with Russia regarding key aspects of how the Nord Stream 2 project will function.

"The Commission seeks to ensure that, if built, Nord Stream 2 operates in a transparent and non-discriminatory way with an appropriate degree of regulatory oversight, in line with key principles of international and EU energy law," it said at the time.

The Nord Stream 2 project involves the construction of a third and fourth lines of the Nord Stream pipeline across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, doubling the capacity of this route to 110 billion-120 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The project is led by Russia's Gazprom. The foreign partners are Engie, OMV, Shell, Uniper and Wintershall.