The freezing of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to link Russia and Germany would not be excluded from the potential sanctions against Russia examined by the German authorities following the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. In any case, that is what Angela Merkel’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert said at a press briefing on Monday 7 September.
“The Chancellor considers that it would be a mistake to exclude this from the outset”, Mr Seibert replied to a journalist who asked him about the issue.
A response echoing the statements of German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. In an interview given over the weekend to the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, the latter said he hopes “that the Russians will not force us to change our position on Nord Stream 2”.
Speaking on Sunday evening on the public television channel ARD, he then felt that it was “erroneous to preclude going in” any consequences for Nord Stream 2, while mentioning a possible freeze on the project.
However, he also stressed the need to be “aware of the consequences” of such an option, especially for the German and European companies involved in the project, thus indirectly responding to the calls to suspend construction of the pipeline made by certain German politicians such as Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen, two candidates to succeed Angela Merkel.
Within the EU institutions, some MEPs called on the European Commission and Member States on Friday 4 September to “do everything in their power to prevent the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline”.
“At the occasion of the murder attempt on the life of Alexei Navalny, we say: enough is enough. Stop Nord Stream 2!”, they say in this joint appeal signed by 56 MEPs from five different political groups (Greens/EFA, EPP, ECR, S&D and Renew Europe).
Construction of the pipeline, which began in April 2018, is currently in the completion phase. However, it has been delayed, in particular because of US sanctions against European companies collaborating on the project (see EUROPE 12389/29), Washington being particularly opposed to Nord Stream 2.
See MEPs’ appeal: https://bit.ly/2DCBzqd (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)