Brussels, 27/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a letter to the European Commission dated 26 November, ten member states - Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia - speak out against the Russian project, Nord Stream-2, to double the gas pipeline Nord Stream, arguing that it goes against the interests of the EU and could further destabilise Ukraine.
These countries are calling for Nord Stream-2 to be subjected to the strictest possible checks in terms of compliance with EU rules and call for an “inclusive debate” at the forthcoming meeting of the European Council, on 17 and 18 December.
“The position of the European Commission on the Nord Stream-2 project will essentially influence the perception of the EU's common foreign and security policy among its core allies and traditional partners”, reads the letter, the news agency Reuters reports.
The extension of the Nord Stream gas pipeline to increase supplies of Russian gas directly to Germany could have serious consequences for the other countries of the EU and Ukraine, the signatory countries stress. “Preserving the transport route through Ukraine is the strategic interest of the EU as a whole, not only from an energy security perspective, but also reinforcing the stability of the Eastern European region”, they stress.
The Commission, which was invited to respond on Friday 27 November, repeated that as for any other new energy infrastructure, it will examine the compliance of the Nord Stream-2 project with EU law.
In early September, the Russian gas company Gazprom signed a shareholders' pact with five European partners to build Nord Stream-2, which aims to double the capacity of the gas pipeline connecting Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, Nord Stream, which has been in service since 2012, to increase it from 55 to 110 billion m3 a year. Gazprom will lead this project, which will also involve the German energy companies E.ON and BASF-Wintershall, Austria's OMV, the Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell and Engie of France, at a level of 10% each. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)