Norbert Rottgen, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German federal parliament, called on Berlin to reconsider its position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which he said had "strong geopolitical" overtones.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) Norbert Rottgen, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German Federal parliament, called on Berlin to reconsider its position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which he said had "strong geopolitical" overtones.
"Germany in particular must urgently reconsider the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project ... Nord Stream 2 is hardly a purely commercial project; it has strong geopolitical implications," Rottgen wrote in an article to The Guardian newspaper.
The politician called on Russia to guarantee that it would continue shipping gas through Ukraine, while the European Union must ensure that Russian gas pipelines on its territory fully "complied with the bloc's competition rules."
Russian officials have repeatedly said that the Nord Stream 2 project was fully commercial, stressing that it did not imply that the transit of Russian gas to the European Union through Ukraine would be terminated.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also stated that Berlin regards the Nord Stream 2 as a commercial project, but at the same time has stressed the need for clarity on Ukraine's future role as a transit route for gas.
The Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russia's Gazprom with France's Engie, Austria's OMV AG, UK-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, and Germany's Uniper and Wintershall. It aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas a year to the European Union.
