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Saturday, 20.04.2024, 12:57
Lithuania, Poland united against Nord Stream 2
"We share a position on Nord Stream 2 – it is a geopolitical project
with no economic justification, which makes the main big European countries 80
percent dependent on supplies from one country, i.e., Russian gas,"
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite
said after meeting her Polish counterpart, Andrzej
Duda, on Saturday.
In her opinion, the experiences of Lithuania and Poland in the gas market
show that a single supplier was not a good option.
"It is a bad thing, as the experience of both countries, Lithuania and
Poland, shows that it becomes a geopolitical instrument, it is not an economic
instrument and it is an instrument that can make political influence in
individual countries and make pressure, therefore, both countries say that the
dependence is not useful and even threatening to geopolitical stability in our
countries," said Grybauskaite.
In her words, Lithuania and Poland have no possibilities of directly
stopping the development of the gas pipeline.
Duda, in his turn, told journalists he was astonished by Western Europe's
aspiration to be dependent on Russian gas supplies.
"I can only state my astonishment that the European Union, I mean its
part in the West, want to be dependent on Gazprom. This astonishes me,"
said Duda.
Lithuania believes that the gas pipeline under development by Russia's
Gazprom and a few other European companies would make Europe more dependent on
Russian gas, thus delivering a blow to Ukraine as a transit country.
Meanwhile, Nord Stream 2 developers want the pipeline to be laid on the bottom of the Baltic Sea and cross Denmark's territorial waters before reaching Germany.