The controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project is back in the news. A group of MEPs sent a joint letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asking her to stop it.
They wrote: “Germany’s position on Nord Stream 2 runs counter to the goals of the European Energy Union.”
The 1,200-kilometre Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is scheduled for completion in 2019, is expected to supply around 55bn cubic metres of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, circumventing Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine.
According to the MEPs’ letter, which was posted by German MEP Rebecca Harms on her website, that Nord Stream 2 “gives Russia additional strategic leverage over the EU because it increases the EU’s energy dependency” on that country.
The MEPs also warned Germany that “by holding on to Nord Stream 2, would continue to act as a divider” in the EU and to “act against the will of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the majority of the Council of the European Union”.
The letter also says that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is being developed at full speed despite concerns voiced from many of Germany’s European neighbours and from European institutions.
According to the MEPs, Merkel’s government “is allowing a major rift between EU member countries to fester at a time when the EU needs cohesion more than ever before.”
“Europe cannot afford this. Nor can Germany,” the MEPs warned in their letter.
The MEPs make the following demand in their letter: “Stop blocking the work on the Gas Directive. Support the course set by the European Commission and the European Parliament. Let Russia’s President know that Germany will stand by its EU partners and by Ukraine.”
As reported by Radio Poland online, Poland is one of the most vociferous opponents of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that Nord Stream 2 is “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the European Union and Nato.
