The legal opinion by the Council of the European Union is a setback to the Commission’s effort to regulate Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The opinion, dated 1 March, said the Commission’s proposal “lacks any reasoning on the regulatory power of the Union over offshore pipelines” crossing an EU nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In addition, it states that applying EU rules to offshore pipelines, such as Nord Stream 2, may violate the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea.