RPT: REVIEW - Germany's Support Of Nord Stream 2 Remains Steadfast Amid Pressure By US, EU

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) All the criticism and restrictive measures that were recently applied to the Nord Stream 2 gas project in Europe by the United States never seem to have diminished Germany's support for the pipeline, which different political circles there consider a project of economic interest.

Nord Stream 2 is a 745-mile twin pipeline designed to carry gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea bed. It is now almost entirely completed, except for a few dozen miles of pipes left to be laid in Danish and German waters.

The United States is a vocal opponent to the Russian-led project, as it seeks to export more liquefied natural gas to Europe. Eastern European countries which used to benefit from transiting Russian gas to Europe via their territories, have also strongly opposed the pipeline's construction since its start in 2018. Washington and several European capitals used all sorts of opportunity windows to obstruct the project by using or threatening to use economic sanctions.

Most recently, on January 20, the United States cited the arrest of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny over financial misdemeanor as a reason to sanction ship Fortuna, which was laying Nord Stream 2's pipes.

Next day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for the pipeline's suspension also in response to Navalny's arrest.

EMBARASSING PRESSURE ON GERMANY

On February 1, the administration of French President Emmanuel Macron called on Germany to abandon Nord Stream 2 as a punitive measure against Russia for arresting Navalny. Former French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani explained to Sputnik that this was Macron's preparing the grounds for future reelection campaign sooner than any sort of beneficence.

"I also suspect President Macron of secretly celebrating this potential German economic failure. Since he has no reason to congratulate himself on his mediocre economic policy results in France, it is easier to play a dirty little trick on his most serious European partner," Mariani said.

The same call on Germany was voiced by authoritative US senators, among them Ted Cruz, who want EU countries to abandon Russian piped gas in favor of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States. New US President Joe Biden also considers Nord Stream 2 a bad deal for Europe, he told German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in a recent phone conversation.

These "friendly" political pressures did not really make Berlin budge on the gas project. On the contrary, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been remarkably quiet on the issue, but each time threats or requests were uttered, she made sure that the project continued.

Merkel personally endorsed sanctioning Russia for Navalny before the European Parliament. However, her proposed list of targets did not include the pipeline.

Germany is Russia's biggest gas customer, and the launch of Nord Stream 2, which would pump gas directly bypassing unreliable transit, is a guarantee of secure supplies.

GERMAN PARTIES EXERCISE RARE SOLIDARITY AGAINST US MEDDLING

The German ruling coalition between Merkel's CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democratic Party appear to back the project, if only because it is nearly fully completed and it would be ridiculously costly to abandon it now.

Both the right and left opposition also appear to be on board.

"The Navalny case should not be associated with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline or made dependent on it," Heidrun Bluhm-Forester, a Bundestag member from the far-left Die Linke party, told Sputnik, specifying that he still condemned Navalny's persecution.

Bluhm-Forester also asserted the unacceptability of US senators voicing threats to German regions over Nord Stream 2. This refers to a letter sent by Ted Cruz and fellow senators in which they vow "crushing" sanctions against the authorities of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a German land where the pipeline is designed to land when completed, in the case if they continue to support the project.

Kerstin Kassner, a Die Linke lawmaker representing the constituency of Western Pomerania-Rugen, said the "aggressive tone and intolerable demands of US politicians" reminded her of long gone times of the Cold War.

"It must be made unmistakably clear that Germany will not allow itself to be blackmailed and will make sovereign decisions with its partners about its energy security. The US should know: US sanctions outside of US territory violate international law. Germany and its neighbors have been reliably sourcing natural gas from Siberia for 50 years," Kassner told Sputnik.

The rationale behind the threats is clear to the German lawmaker � the United States is driven by the economic benefits of exporting fracking gas to Europe, while "US senators' connections to the fracking gas industry are obvious."

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, too, believes that Nord Stream 2 serves Germany's interests, AfD member of parliament Markus Buchheit told Sputnik.

"I am thinking, for example, of the interest in a stable energy supply that relies on different providers. In my opinion, the pressure exerted on Germany by France or the US on several levels also represents an absolutely inadmissible process," Buchheit said.

"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," the lawmaker added.

�BIDEN MIGHT USE PIPELINE AS BARGAIN CHIP

Unexpectedly, in the first days of February, the administration of new US President Joe Biden has signaled its readiness to discuss the lifting of sanctions from Nord Stream 2. As reported by German newspaper Handelsblatt, Washington is going to ask Germany to "compensate" for the lift of sanctions.

"This sudden change of attitude by the Americans is good news for Nord Stream 2. With Joe Biden, the United States jumps back to the Obama period. Biden was [ex-US President Barack] Obama's Number 2 for eight years," Samuel Furfari, a professor of Geopolitics of Energy at the University of Brussels and the president of the European Society of Engineers and Industrialists, told Sputnik.

One of Washington's conditions to greenlight Nord Stream 2 is reportedly going to be that Germany reserve the right to unilaterally "turn off" the pipeline in the case if Russia reduces the Europe-bound gas transit via another route � Ukraine's territory.

It is commonly known that by building Nord Streams 1 and 2, Russia sought to bypass transiting its gas via Ukraine, which used to take advantage of being the transit hub and imposed tolls on the fuel pumped to Europe. During one of the Russian-Ukrainian gas feuds, Kiev even halted the gas flow to Europe, trying to negotiate better terms for itself.

According to Furfari, the United States will likely ask Germany to support and "pamper" Ukraine to then "run it against Russia."

"It is not a problem. Enough gas will reach Germany when Nord Stream 2 is inaugurated ... If need be, gas could also be transferred to Ukraine because after the gas crisis of January 2006 and January 2009, the EU has installed 'reverse flows' infrastructures allowing the gas to flow from west to east, if necessary," the expert said.

The United States might also ask Germany to build an LNG terminal and import US gas, like Poland and Lithuania did in the past, as a gesture of goodwill, the expert opined. This way, "everybody will be happy" and the difficulties for the pipeline's developers will likely be over, he believes.

"The negative reaction of President Emmanuel Macron to Nord Stream 2 should only be seen as a political positioning of lesser importance," Furfari added.