Nord Stream 2, how Merkel will move between Biden and Putin
On the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Angela Merkel will be called upon to challenge her ability as a negotiator and helmsman not only of Germany but of Europe. Gianni Bessi's post
(A fly lands on the walls of the rooms where the powerful decide the destinies of the peoples … House of Tsar is the collection of the stories of this nosy insect, which eavesdrops and studies the moves of strongman or siloviki, if we prefer the ancient Russian name , in the most important issue of modernity, that of energy, whether it is natural gas or oil. Always and only on Start one of his umpteenth episodes)
The final stages of the construction of North stream 2, the pipeline that will carry Russian gas to Germany – and therefore throughout Europe – could be the last piece of the inimitable political story of Angela Merkel, the chancellor who held the fortunes of their country and continent for 16 years. An infinite period for today's times, in which careers burn like will-o'-the-wisps. It is a period in which his 'vision' allowed Germany to consolidate its role in the EU but also to found and consolidate German syncretism at the beginning of the new millennium, as I tried to explain in a volume (goWare editions) which will be released shortly and which will have das Madchen as its protagonist, as its political godfather Helmut Kohl called it.
Regarding the flow of Russian gas that will allow the electricity that German industry craves like air to be produced, the decisive step in breaking a long-standing stalemate was the decision of the new US President Joe. Biden not to apply sanctions to the Russian subsidiary behind the project. A green light with stars and stripes which is also the symptom of a change in relations between the US and Europe, understood as a Union. As early as May 19, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had in fact declared that it is in the national interest of the United States to renounce the application of sanctions against Nord Stream 2, the ships involved in the completion operations and the corporate officers of Nord Stream. 2 AG and its CEO, Matthias Warnig. A junker from East Germany that the Russian siloviki consider one of them, also considering the long acquaintance and acquaintance with Uncle Vlad since the days of Dresden 1989. None of this would have been possible without the very careful direction of frau Merkel who yet another seal of a great personal success at the end of his experience at the helm of the German government. As proof of his diplomatic sensitivity, after having received the green light to complete the work, he nevertheless continued to maintain a low profile in the field of energy supply, however acknowledging that Biden has reopened that dialogue with Europe that had stalled. , to put it mildly, during Donald Trump's four-year term.
The fight against Nord Stream 2 has moved from the Baltic Sea to the offices of diplomatic and political officials, not only in Europe but also in Washington and it is also for this reason that the Chancellor will go on an official visit to the White House on July 15, confirming with a highly symbolic act of one's personal success. Whose most important achievement from the point of view of energy geopolitics is Germany's role as the gateway for blue gold to European consumers. And of all its manufacturing chain, of maintenance services and of digitization that follows.
Now the finalization of the North stream 2 project will be seen by some as a victory for Putin, who in this way has credited himself as the almost exclusive supplier of gas to Europe and of the possible synergies and developments of hydrogen to its energy-intensive industries. A double victory, given that thanks to the alternative routes constituted by the Turk Stream (south route) and the North Stream 2 (north route) the gas flow will not have to pass through Ukraine (only). Sergey Nechayev, Russian ambassador to Germany, said he was confident that the pipeline could be completed before the German elections on 7 September, also thanks to the improvement of the marine weather conditions which have allowed faster laying works since June.
The state of the works currently sees two Russian ships operating in Danish waters: the Fortuna (code name anti-sanction Fiona) to which, for the laying of the pipelines south of the Danish island of Bornholm in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), on April 27 Akademik Cherskiy (Anja, also in code) joined. On 10 June, Nord Stream 2 AG announced that it had completed the so-called “Golden Weld” on line B of the pipeline: this means that 1,234 km of one of the strings of the tube now form an integral whole. On June 15, sources from Akademik Cherskiy reported that only 60 km left to complete line A of the Project. If both pipelayers were able to lay the pipe at a combined kilometer per day and assuming weather conditions did not slow operations, the remaining pipeline segment would be laid within 65 days.
Are you all right then? Obviously not, a successful “Golden Weld” operation is not enough to guarantee that the gas can flow through the pipes. In fact, the pipe must be certified by a third party: since US sanctions are still imposed on all certification companies, it could happen that despite the pipeline being completed there is no authorized body available to perform the certification. It is likely that this is the topic on which German and American diplomacies will soon confront each other: and Angela Merkel will be called upon to put her ability as a negotiator and helmsman not only of Germany but of a Europe that probably would still have into play. need das Madchen.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/nord-stream-2-perche-merkel-avra-ancora-un-ruolo-da-giocare/ on Sat, 26 Jun 2021 05:30:51 +0000.