Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on Germany to prevent the launch of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. He stated this in an interview with the newspaper. Bild…
According to the Polish politician, Germany should stop the certification procedure for the gas pipeline project “for the sake of peace” and not give additional money to Russian President Vladimir Putin by purchasing gas.
On November 16, Germany suspended certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. According to Albert Breininger, a member of the German party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD), the delay in the certification of the project operator may be due to political reasons.
Breininger believes that the decision of the German regulator to suspend certification is due to the desire to buy time for the formation of a new government coalition of Germany. At the same time, he found it difficult to say which component prevails – politics or the German bureaucracy. The politician admitted that he had found a formal reason for refusal.
At the same time, Breininger pointed out that there were no signs of Germany’s complete abandonment of Nord Stream 2. He explained that there are significant forces in the country that are interested in the successful implementation of the project.
Another member of the Alternative for Germany, member of the Bundestag, Steffen Kotrets, in an interview with Lenta.ru, expressed the opinion that the EU Commission and the United States intend to prevent the gas pipeline from being launched in order to make the project more expensive, harm Russia and gain competitive advantages for American gas. As a result, he pointed out, gas consumers and Germany’s reliability suffer.
According to sources in the German government, the launch of the gas pipeline may be delayed until March 2022 due to problems with certification. They also pointed out that Gazprom needed to create a subsidiary of the Swiss operator of the Nord Stream 2 AG project, and then transfer property and rights in Germany to it. Only after that, the regulator will be ready to resume the certification process in order to then submit it to the European Commission.
A spokesman for the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) declined to comment on information about the postponement of the launch of Nord Stream 2 to March 2022. “I can only say what we said yesterday in our press release,” said a spokesman for the German regulator.
According to Shimon Kardas, an employee of the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, in order to achieve certification of the gas pipeline, Russia should divide it into two parts.
The specialist pointed to the “weakness” of the updated EU Gas Directive, which applies only to the territorial waters of the EU member state where the pipeline ends, in this case it is about Germany.
Kardas noted that approval by the European Commission and Germany of this approach will allow Gazprom and its partners to operate Nord Stream 2 on more favorable terms, since in this case most of the project will be removed from operation. “There will be no need to take into account the rules that require, for example, to provide access to third parties,” – added the analyst.
The Kremlin found no political motives for suspending the certification of Nord Stream 2. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov stressed that the certification of the Russian gas pipeline is a complex process, and this was clear from the very beginning, pointing to “certain protocols” and “norms of European legislation.”
“The operator company, in fact, is ready to fulfill all the requirements of the current legislation in order to launch this important project for all as soon as possible,” he said.
Permanent Representative of Russia to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said that Germany has not yet made political statements to Russia in connection with the suspension of certification of Nord Stream 2. He added that the Kremlin would not like to see political motives in Berlin’s actions.
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