As the project of the strategic Russian pipeline Nord Stream-2 is being implemented, an opposition to the project on the part of the certain political circles in the West and, in particular, in Germany, is growing. The influential German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published an article, in which the German government's positive attitude to the construction of the pipeline is harshly criticized.
In particular, the publication leads a remarkable opinion of the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Bundestag, Norbert Röttgen (CDU). The conservative politician has literally criticized the approaches of his own government and Chancellor Angela Merkel. ‘’ I find unacceptable and provocative the approach of the federal government, according to which the project North Stream-2 is a private business project and has nothing to do with politics,’’ Röttgen said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
According to the MP, the project threatens the Polish, Ukrainian and Baltic security interests. According to him, the ignoring of these interests will lead to a further split within the European Union. The head of the Foreign Committee of the German parliament has actually tied the construction of the Nord Stream-2 with the Russian actions in the Ukrainian and Syrian conflicts - Norbert Röttgen is convinced that doing business with Russia in such circumstances would be an undeserved reward for the country.
The MP from the Green Party, Reinhard Bütikofer, in turn, has criticized the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who now occupies the post of the chairman of the executive board of the Nord Stream. "Gerhard Schroeder protects the Russian energy exports, relying on which Russia exports wars,’’ Bütikofer said. There was a time when the newspaper Die Zeit in the article ‘Pipe Bomb’ also warned: whatever is eventually decided on the fate of the Nord Stream-2, the project will cost a lot of the political capital for the Germans in Europe.
Note, that the members of the Nord Stream-2 consortium are Gazprom, the German BASF and E.ON, French Engie, Austrian OMV, and the Anglo-Dutch Shell. The construction of the pipeline serves largely the German political and economic interests. Thus, the project will enhance the role of Berlin as an energy hub in the EU. At the same time the German-Russian energy relations will no longer depend on the problems associated with the transit countries - particularly Ukraine, which is extremely important in the context of the aggravated Russian-Ukrainian relations and incidents, when Ukraine stole Russian gas allotted for Europe in the past.
However, in case of the construction of the Nord Stream-2, the EU fears a possible ‘gas blackmailing’ on the part of Moscow with regard to Poland, the Baltic countries and Ukraine for the implementation of its own foreign policy objectives. Officially, these fears are shared by Germany, Vice-Chancellor and the Minister of Economy, Sigmar Gabriel, speaks openly about it.
However, Poland and the Baltic states are not inclined to rely on this issue only on the German guarantees and arrangements of Germans with Russia, fearing that at some point everything can be replayed, and the German-Russian rapprochement will result in the dire consequences for their long-term energy and political interests.
