Attempts to slow down the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline for political reasons are counterproductive, Chairman of the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, Oliver Hermes, said on Wednesday
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2021) Attempts to slow down the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline for political reasons are counterproductive, Chairman of the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, Oliver Hermes, said on Wednesday.
In a remark made at the 26th UN climate conference in Glasgow, Hermes noted that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe can contribute to achieving climate goals.
"The accelerated transition from coal to natural gas in the coming years can provide significant potential for savings in hydrocarbon emissions. Therefore, it would be absolutely counterproductive to delay, for political reasons, such a modern infrastructure project as Nord Stream 2," Hermes said in a statement.
Natural gas will pave the way to a carbon-free world or to neutral gases such as hydrogen, he added.
Russian energy giant Gazprom announced in September that it was ready to pump natural gas to Germany via the pipeline and was waiting for clearance from the German energy regulator.
Late last month, the German economic ministry announced that it had completed the analysis of supplies safety as part of the certification procedure and submitted it to the German Federal Network Agency. The ministry established that certification will not jeopardize the safety of gas supplies to Germany and the EU.
Ukraine, which currently has a gas transit agreement with Russia, has been a vocal opponent of the pipeline, fearing revenue losses after its commissioning, and claims that the pipeline threatens the energy security of Ukraine and Europe. Moscow, however, has repeatedly said that it would continue relying on Ukraine's transport capacities to pump gas to Europe in the coming years despite building additional pipelines.
