The white house is preparing to toughen its position to the EU countries isn’t enough firmly, resisting the implementation of the project of the Russian Nord Stream pipeline 2. First of all we are talking about Germany, writes today’s Wall Street Journal, citing sources in the administration trump.
Nord Stream 2 creates more contradictions between Washington and Berlin
According to the publication, Washington is planning to impose sanctions against a number of firms of the European Union participating in the Russian project. These sanctions will go a package of amendments to 2017, the law «On combating the enemies of America by sanctions» (CAATSA).
Until recently, U.S. sanctions apply only to Gazprom and other Russian structures. About the possibility of introducing measures against the Europeans said back in November, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sandland. The truth is in the speech of the American Ambassador at a think tank the European policy centre in Brussels, and in today’s leak to the Wall Street Journal does not mention a specific list of European companies and the parameters of the sanctions. Key participants of the project are such European structures as the European partners of Gazprom are Uniper and German Wintershall, the Anglo-Dutch group Royal Dutch Shell, French Engie and Austrian OMV.
Stephen Blank, senior fellow at the American foreign policy Council, commented on this news at the Atlantic Council:
«Putting pressure on Gazprom to meet all arbitral awards is not only a sound legal doctrine, but also reliable protection of political interests of European States, as well as the vital interests of Ukraine. The application of such pressure on «Gazprom» also reinforces the decision of the European Commission about the need for transparency and fair market practices in the European energy policy. These decisions certainly deserve support from the EU members to maximise energy security and promote the rule of law and transparency in the energy business.»
New problems for German-Russian pipeline Nord Stream 2 #NordStream2 @GazpromEN @omv @Wintershall_com https://t.co/5QKRh2Mzue pic.twitter.com/oT6gahxBHE
— World News Monitor (@WNewsMonitor) March 11, 2019
German politicians, including Angela Merkel for many years occupied an ambivalent position on Nord Stream 2, which is due to financial benefits. Gas from Russian pipe will supposedly 20% cheaper than the American gas supplied by tankers. At the same time German firms have shares and contracts in the project, and this is their income. «Molecule of Russian gas remains a molecule of Russian gas regardless of whether he is from Ukraine or from the depths of the Baltic sea,» said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a conference in Munich in February. «If the United States decided to authorize the use of Russian gas, it would be an attack on the sovereignty of Germany and Europe,» said Wolfgang in Buchelay, Chairman of the German Committee on Eastern European economic relations (GCEEER).
However, the United States in matters of Nord Stream 2 is seen not only economy but also security threats. The Kremlin has always been called the supply of gas to Europe a geopolitical weapon, and it aimed at undermining the unity of NATO and the EU. Trump at the last meeting with Merkel expressed aloud her bewilderment, calling illogical that it buys from Putin’s gas, and the US pays for the defense of Germany in NATO.
The German participation in the Russian project is an indirect support of the aggressive policy of Moscow towards its neighbors, including the occupation of the Crimea and war on Donbass.
«Of course, Russia will organize a new gas war, when Nord Stream 2 is to be constructed. She uses any means, whether sudden pressure drop in the tube… Such provocations will be as soon as 2 Nord Stream will be built. And any guarantee on the part of Russia can be broken. Well, look, Russia has violated all possible,» commented the Polish radio, the prospects of the pipeline, the Minister of foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin.
As they say in the message of Gazprom, dated 6 March, Nord Stream 2 built a third and the construction is placed within the planned timeframe, the gas will go through the pipe at the end of this year. Representatives of Gazprom has repeatedly said it will bring the construction project to the end, even alone, if, under US pressure, from a project released their European partners.
