German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock announced that she had reached a consensus with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. She told about this in interview German edition Die Zeit.
Berbock noted that earlier she and the new head of state had different points of view on this issue. However, now, she said, she and the Chancellor made it clear that the certification process should be based on European legislation.
Energy security will also play a role in the further assessment
In addition, the head of the department stressed that energy cannot be used as a weapon to destabilize Europe. The previous German government agreed with the United States that in the event of an escalation from Russia on the border with Ukraine, questions may arise about the introduction of Nord Stream 2 into operation, she added.
Technical problems
On November 16, it became known that Germany temporarily suspended the certification process for Nord Stream 2. The suspension of this process is due to legal changes. The Federal Network Agency (the regulator of the Federal Republic of Germany) has specified that it will continue it after Gazprom completes the creation of a subsidiary in Germany for the German part of the pipeline. The regulator also stressed that it had notified the European Commission, the German Ministry of Energy and all parties to the certification procedure in advance about the suspension of the process.
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Later, the German Chancellor urged not to consider this decision political. Scholz noted that Nord Stream 2 is a commercial project in which private investments have been made. He stressed that the decision on the project’s compliance with European legislation was made by the German regulator without being guided by policy. At the same time, the Chancellor added that this procedure provides for “a lot of consultations”, but the process is under way.
Other side
The Kremlin adheres to an approach similar to that of the German Chancellor to this problem. Thus, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called for the refusal to politicize the certification process of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. According to him, many countries speak about the politicization of the project, but not Germany. He also noted that what is happening at the moment is the certification process by the German regulator.
It does not need to be politicized in any way, there is no need to see any tricks, here you need to be patient
In addition, Peskov said that the gas pipeline operator is ready to comply with all the requirements of the regulator and is consistently doing it.
The Kremlin spokesman also assessed the possibility of completely stopping gas supplies to Europe. Peskov said that the Russian authorities would not even want to hypothetically think that gas transit through Belarus could be blocked. According to him, Moscow proceeds from the assumption that all obligations will be fulfilled.
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