Germany stops the certification of Nord Stream 2. There is a limit to double play
As a reaction to Russian actions against Ukraine, the federal government will stop the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in Berlin on Tuesday. " Without this certification , Nord Stream 2 cannot go into operation." The completion of the certification process was expected in June
Scholz condemned President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognize the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states as a grave violation of international law. With his actions in eastern Ukraine, Putin is not only breaking the Minsk Agreement, but also the UN Charter, which provides for the preservation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.
The certification block, for which both the US and the eastern countries such as Poland and Ukraine had put considerable pressure, puts a temporary end to all the controversies related to the structure that increased energy ties between Russia and Germany. Recall that Obama, Trump and Biden have opposed this work, with Trump who had even gone so far as to impose sanctions on the companies concerned, a fact that Biden abandoned allowing it to be completed. It is not impossible that precisely this weakness prompted Putin to take action. To obtain Nord Stream 2, Germany had sabotaged similar competitive structures such as South Stream, which would have come to Italy.
By stopping Nord Stream 2, Germany eventually agrees that the gas transit will take place through Yamal, Nord Stream 1, which carries about 1/3 of the German gas, and Ukrainian gas pipelines. Putin and Gazprom had lobbied hard to speed up the commissioning of the facility that would have rendered the older, Soviet-era gas pipelines useless.
Now it remains to be seen whether the Russian boycott in sending gas via Yamal will continue, while Germany will have to rethink its energy strategies on gas by investing in the North Sea. Now Schroeder can also resign from the Gazprom board …
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The article Germany stops the certification of Nord Stream 2. There is a limit to the double game comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-germania-ferma-la-certificazione-di-nord-stream-2-ce-un-limite-al-doppio-gioco/ on Tue, 22 Feb 2022 12:56:40 +0000.