German Officials Call US Sanctions Against Nord Stream 2 Violation Of EU Sovereignty

German Officials Call US Sanctions Against Nord Stream 2 Violation of EU Sovereignty

Niels Annen, the German minister of state at the Federal Foreign Office, on Wednesday expressed strong criticism over the proposed US extraterritorial sanctions against the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project and called them an encroachment on EU sovereignty

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) Niels Annen, the German minister of state at the Federal Foreign Office, on Wednesday expressed strong criticism over the proposed US extraterritorial sanctions against the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project and called them an encroachment on EU sovereignty.

In early June, US senators introduced a bipartisan bill that would tighten sanctions on Nord Stream 2 to potentially hit numerous European companies, banks and governmental organizations that work with the project. According to media reports, Germany is putting together a set of countermeasures to mobilize a coordinated EU-wide response.

"We must proceed from the fact that this bill will soon be adopted. The unequivocal position of the German government is that this is a severe violation of EU sovereignty ... This is a direct and tough interference in Europe's policy and energy security," Annen said at the parliamentary hearing.

Thomas Bareis, the parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany. supported this opinion and called the US sanctions "an unprecedented case in the transatlantic partnership between the United States and the European Union."

He noted that this is a "massive interference in energy supply and energy sovereignty of the EU."

The Nord Stream 2 project aims to lay a 745-mile-long twin pipeline that will carry up to 55 billion cubic meters (1.942 trillion cubic feet) of gas per year from Russia to Germany, passing through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden. On December 20, US President Donald Trump signed the 2020 defense budget, which included sanctions against the project, forcing Allseas, a Swiss company responsible for laying down the pipes, to withdraw from the project with just 100 miles left to lay.