12/12/2019 (Agence Europe) – The United States House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday 12 December imposing sanctions on companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. A decision that Germany regretted. “We reject in principle external interventions and sanctions with extraterritorial effects”, said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. For his part, Rainer Seele, President of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK), called on the European partners of the project to react “with targeted countermeasures”. Intended to supply Russian gas to Europe by connecting the Russian coastline to Germany via the Baltic Sea, Nord Stream 2 is criticised across the Atlantic because Washington fears that it will considerably increase the EU's energy dependence on Russia. This decision comes at a time when the project is in the finalisation phase. The U.S. Senate, for its part, has yet to make a decision. (DG)