Europe's Interests In Nord Stream 2 Must Be Protected From US Sanctions - German Lawmaker

Europe's Interests in Nord Stream 2 Must Be Protected From US Sanctions - German Lawmaker

Europe's economic interests in connection with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline must be protected, and Washington's actions question further close partnership of the US and the EU, Waldemar Gerdt, a member of the Bundestag committee on foreign affairs from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Sputnik, adding that the US sanctions against the project are political

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2020) Europe's economic interests in connection with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline must be protected, and Washington's actions question further close partnership of the US and the EU, Waldemar Gerdt, a member of the Bundestag committee on foreign affairs from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Sputnik, adding that the US sanctions against the project are political.

Earlier in the day, Austrian oil and gas corporation OMV CEO Rainer Seele said a political response was needed to US threats to impose sanctions against companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

"Politicians are facing a serious challenge, they have to make the first decisive statement on the sovereignty of Germany and Europe. When our economic and political partner, the United States, makes such demands that we see now, it is worth asking the question of whether we are partners. This is very serious, we are talking about structural changes in geopolitical influence. If Europe now makes concessions, gives in to pressure, if politicians do not find the strength to defend the economic interests of their states and the continent, then do we need such politicians?" Gerdt said.

According to the lawmaker, the US sanctions against the project, in fact, are of political nature, rather than economic. In particular, the US forcing Europe to abandon its own economic and strategic interests is being undertaken solely to "isolate and weaken Russia as a state." The purposeful introduction of sanctions in order to lower the well-being of the population in Russia, "so that the people become impoverished and indignant," is immoral, since it is about "the fate of people who will lose their jobs," the politician added.

Earlier in July, the US House of Representatives approved an amendment that would impose new sanctions on those who work on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany.

In December, Nord Stream 2 sanctions that were part of the US' 2020 National Defense Authorization Act forced Swiss pipelay company Allseas to quit the project with just 100 miles of the pipeline left to lay. Russia is now finishing the pipeline on its own.