Berlin Should Assert Economic Sovereignty As US Pressures Nord Stream 2 - EU Lawmaker

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2021) The German government should "make it clear" to Washington that Berlin has the right to assert its sovereignty over economic matters following the United States' decision to impose further sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, Markus Buchheit, a German member of the European Parliament, told Sputnik.

During President Donald Trump's final full day in office on Tuesday, the Department of the Treasury announced that sanctions would be levied against the Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna and its owner, KVT-Rus. One day later, incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Biden administration is seeking to convince European states to withdraw from the Nord Stream 2 project.

"But Germany and those involved in Nord Stream 2 must also make it clear to the US that this is a question of sovereign states to decide and shape the economic course independently and without the US exerting such influence," Buchheit, who represents the Alternative for Germany party, said.

According to the EU lawmaker, there are multiple economic reasons motivating Europe's decision to back the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

"The Americans want Poland and Lithuania and the Germans to use US fracking gas [LNG] instead of Russian gas supplies.

Ultimately, however, there are solid economic reasons that have persuaded the Europeans to stick to Nord Stream 2 to date. On the one hand, the LNG [liquefied natural gas] from the US is more expensive because it has to be brought to Europe in tankers and in a cooled, liquefied form," Buchheit said, adding that there were also major ecological concerns surrounding fracking.

The latest developments show that the US is motivated by its own economic interests and is failing to take Germany's energy needs into account, the lawmaker said.

"Germany needs security of energy supply. Americans, however, think about their business, their trade balance and their ability to influence," Buchheit remarked.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the latest round of sanctions on the pipeline project indicates that the US has "blatant disregard" for the norms of free competition and free trade.

Nord Stream 2, a joint project between Russia's Gazprom and several European energy giants, is a planned 745-mile-long twin pipeline that will carry nearly 2 trillion cubic feet of gas annually from Russia to Germany.