BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2020) Washington's plan to introduce additional restrictions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline seriously burdens Trans-Atlantic relations, to which the EU should find a political solution and a way to protect European companies from the consequences of these sanctions, Joachim Lang, the head of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), said on Friday.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that the United States was updating public guidance to add sanctions to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the second line of the Turk Stream 2 under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The projects were exempt from the law, as construction had begun before the legislation went into effect.
"The growing influence of the United States on the European energy supply project is seriously burdening Trans-Atlantic relations. Threatening sanctions poses increased risks to the principle of legal certainty and investment for approximately 120 large and small enterprises from 12 countries. European gas consumers must take price increases into account due to these threats," Lang said, as quoted in the BDI's statement.
According to the official, the German industry is criticizing the extraterritorial application of US sanctions, as it violates international law.
"The EU should strive to find a political solution with the US and develop ways to protect European enterprises from the future effects of illegal and unilateral US sanctions," Lang said, noting the importance of protecting the EU's legal sovereignty and strategic economic interests.
The Nord Stream 2 project aims at laying a 745-mile-long twin pipeline that will carry up to 55 billion cubic meters (1.942 trillion cubic feet) of gas per year from Russia to Germany, passing through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden.
The US, which promotes its liquefied natural gas in the EU, and Ukraine, which before the diversification of the Russian-EU pipeline network enjoyed exclusive rights and privileges of the key transit country, are the fiercest opponents of the project.
On December 20, US President Donald Trump signed the 2020 defense budget, which included sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project, forcing Allseas, a Swiss company responsible for laying down the pipes, to withdraw from the project with just 100 miles left to lay.
In early June, US senators introduced a bipartisan bill that would tighten sanctions on Nord Stream 2 to potentially hit numerous European companies, banks and governmental organizations that work with the project. According to media reports, Germany is putting together a set of countermeasures to mobilize a coordinated EU-wide response.
