The European Union continues to presume that it is strategically important to maintain the role of Ukraine as the country, through which gas is transited, Head of European Diplomacy Federica Mogherini said, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

“Previously EU Council clearly noted that it considers strategically important that Ukraine maintains the status of a transit country”, - she said at the press conference in Brussels, responding to the question regarding the project “Nord Stream 2”.

In early August 2016, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein stated that the commission of the second phase of “Nord Stream 2” will deprive Ukraine of 2 billion dollars of income from charging fees for transit of Russian gas to Europe, which can “lead Ukrainian economy to the collapse”.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda claimed about the danger of “Nord Stream”, according to which the gas pipeline not only poses threat to energy security of Poland and Ukraine, but also jeopardizes European unity.

On October 26, the European Commission reportedly decided to increase load of OPAL gas pipeline for Gazprom concern.

The 270 km long OPAL gas pipeline makes it possible to transport gas from the German part of the Baltic Sea coast to the border with Czech Republic.

Therefore, OPAL joins the Nord Stream gas pipeline with Russian gas consumers in the Central and Eastern Europe, bypassing Ukraine.

As of today, the gas pipeline is loaded only for 50%. However, its throughout capability is 36 billion of cubic meters per year. The half of gas pipeline capacities is not used according the decision of the European Commission, as EU tries to hamper the tight control over gas transport systems from gas suppliers.

Previously, the negotiations between Gazprom and Brussels regarding increasing quotas for gas transportation through OPAL were discontinued in 2014 due to Russian-Ukrainian conflict.