Senior German Lawmaker Slams Paris' Demand To Halt Nord Stream 2 Over Navalny's Case

France's demand to cease the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is unfounded and misguided, the head of Bundestag's economy and energy committee, Klaus Ernst, said Monday

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2021) France's demand to cease the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is unfounded and misguided, the head of Bundestag's economy and energy committee, Klaus Ernst, said Monday.

The Secretary of State at the French Foreign Ministry, Clement Beaune earlier said on the air of France Inter that he considered it possible to expand sanctions against Russia in connection with the case of opposition figure Alexey Navalny. He said that the EU is considering extending these sanctions to Nord Stream 2, since "we have great doubts about this project in this context."

"The demand of the French government to stop the construction of Nord Stream 2 is unfounded and mistaken. The cessation of the already approved project will burden German consumers of gas and taxpayers due to higher gas prices and compensation payments for already made investments," Ernst told journalists.

Navalny was detained in Moscow earlier this month upon his arrival at Sheremetyevo International Airport. Before Navalny's return to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for alleged poisoning, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service warned it would arrest him for probation violations as he was previously found guilty of committing two administrative offenses.

The Nord Stream 2 project aims to lay a 745-mile-long twin pipeline that will carry up to 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.