German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the freezing of the authorization for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, not yet in operation, which connects Russia to Germany: “I asked the Ministry of Energy to start the procedures for not issuing the certification for starting the pipeline, “he said.
The plant was completed last September but the last green light has not yet been given. It had been strongly supported by Angela Merkel, who again last July assured that it would not be “used for political purposes”. You see it differently, however, the new government coalition: in January, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that it would not have started if Russia invaded Ukraine. “Now that Russia has violated all promises made, she will have to accept the consequences,” says Baerbock today. According to reports from the daily Der Spiegel referring to government sources, the freezing of the certification for the launch of Nord Stream 2 was prepared months ago by the German Ministry of Economy led by Robert Habeck
The game around North Stream 2 is far from secondary in the balance between the West and Russia: if on the one hand Europe is very dependent on the supplies of Gazprom, the energy giant controlled by the Kremlin, on the other the Russian economy , founded on hydrocarbons, cannot afford to lose its main gas buyer. A project frowned upon by Kiev
The 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) long submarine Nord Stream 2, which runs from the Russian Baltic coast to northeastern Germany, cost $ 12 billion and follows the same path as Nord Stream 1, completed more than a decade ago, and like the latter, it is capable of carrying 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Gazprom has a majority stake in the € 10 billion ($ 12 billion) project. The company also shares the German companies Uniper and Wintershall, the French Engie, the Anglo-Dutch Shell and the Austrian Omv.
The new pipeline bypasses Ukraine, robbing the country of around one billion euros a year in transit tariff revenue and, Kiev fears, removing an obstacle to potential Russian aggression. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long insisted that Nord Stream 2 poses a serious threat to global security. Some European nations, particularly Poland and Eastern European countries, fear they will become too dependent on Moscow for energy security. The White House applauds
US President Joe Biden opposes Nord Stream 2, which he sees as a bad deal for Europe and a security risk. US sanctions on Russian ships that laid the pipe managed to delay Nord Stream 2, angering Germany. But Biden, newly elected and eager to rebuild transatlantic ties after Donald Trump, last year gave up sanctions against the Russian-controlled company behind the project. Today the White House applauds the German decision. The reaction of the Kremlin
The Kremlin expects the stop to be “temporary”. Former Russian president and security adviser Dmitry Medvedev sarcastically tweeted “Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans will very soon pay 2,000 euros for 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas.”
