Construction, Energy, EU – CIS, Gas, USA

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 19:43

U.S. threatens measures to stop controversial North Stream 2 pipeline

BC, Riga, 14.11.2018.Print version
The United States could take steps to prevent the construction of the North Stream 2 gas pipeline project aimed at delivering Russian gas to Europe, warned Washington's ambassador to the European Union, citing LETA/BNS.

"There are several tools that the United States has and we have not deployed the full set of tools yet that could significantly undermine - if not outright stop - the project," Gordon Sondland said at athink tank event in Brussels.

Berlin is one of the main backers of the project, which will pump Russian gas straight to Germany, avoiding overland eastern European routes by crossing the Baltic Sea. It is due to be completed in 2019.

Countries such as Poland and Ukraine worry, however, that they will lose out on the transit fees they currently receive for gas flowing westwards from Russia. Others criticize the project for boosting European countries' reliance on Moscow for their energy needs.

US President Donald Trump railed against the project earlier this year, accusing Germany of being "totally controlled" by Moscow at a NATO summit in July.

"We're hoping that the opposition to the project works organically, because the EU and member countries agree that dependence on Russian energy is not a good long-term geopolitical decision," Sondland said Tuesday at the event organized by the European Policy Center.

"If that philosophy is not adopted and Nord Stream continues then the president has many, many other tools at his disposal (...) to try to curb and stop the project," he added, without going into detail.

Sondland denied that Washington's stance was motivated by an interest in selling liquefied US gas to Europe, arguing instead that the pipeline was a geopolitical mistake.

"We don't want to see someone's gas turned off in the middle of the winter when there is a political crisis," the ambassador said. "If Europe is vulnerable the United States is vulnerable," he added. "This is how strong the trans-Atlantic relationship is. We're joined at the hip."

Sondland further accused the EU of playing a "delay game" in trade discussions with a view to kick-starting negotiations on a deal that could remove tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to trans-Atlantic trade.

The talks stem from a meeting in July between Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker aimed at defusing trade tensions, after the US hiked tariffs on EU steel and aluminum exports.

"Some believe they can delay and wait out this president," Sondland said. "The problem is that that tactic really doesn't work because a president of either party is very likely to demand a realignment," he added.






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