The chairman of the European People’s Party, the largest faction in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber called on the European Union, if necessary, to use the Nord Stream-2 (SP-2) project as a political tool against Russia. He made such a statement on March 6 to Der Spiegel.
According to Weber, since the German government is not going to stop the construction of the gas pipeline, the EU needs to use it “as a lever in foreign policy.”
The politician said that the project “economically stabilizes the system” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which acts against the EU and its member states.
As Weber noted, if the Russian authorities do not return to partnership cooperation, then “the pipeline will not be able to work in full.”
He also called on Europe “to abandon its naivety in dealing with Putin and other geopolitical players.”
On the eve, the head of the Federation Council committee on international affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, following a meeting with State Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry Miguel Berger, said that Germany had confirmed its interest in the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project.
In particular, according to Kosachev, Germany understands all the risks and problems that are associated with maintaining the main option for the transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine.
On March 4, the Danish Maritime Administration announced that the implementation is planned to be completed at the end of September this year. We are talking about works near the island of Bornholm, where the ships “Fortuna” and “Akademik Chersky” were sent to lay pipes. For further work, the pipe-laying vessel “Akademik Chersky” will be involved.
On March 1, it became known that the German authorities are considering the implementation of the project, regardless of anti-Russian sanctions. It was noted that Berlin will discuss with Washington the lifting of sanctions against this pipeline as soon as the US Senate approves candidates for all posts.
Nord Stream 2 envisages the construction of two strings of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The project is actively opposed by the United States, which is promoting its liquefied natural gas to the EU, as well as Ukraine and a number of European countries.
The United States imposed sanctions on the pipeline in December 2019. Under the threat of sanctions, a number of European companies – partners of the project left the project, in particular, the German company Uniper did it on March 4.