According to German media reports, a spokesman for the “North Stream-2” company said on the 11th that the construction of the “North Creek-2” natural gas pipeline project, which was suspended due to U.S. sanctions, has resumed construction.
In response to the possible expansion of the sanctions by the United States, the chairman of the Energy and Economic Committee of the German Bundestag said in an interview with the head office that Germany opposes the U.S. sanctions and is considering countermeasures.
According to a spokesman for Beixi-2, 94% of the project has been completed; this resumption of construction is planned to lay another 2.6 kilometers of pipelines.
After the United States began to impose sanctions on the North Stream-2 project in 2019, the project stalled for a while. The United States said that the pipeline would increase Europe’s dependence on Russia, thus threatening the security of the EU.
The “long-arm jurisdiction” of the United States was severely rejected by Germany. Germany believes that the “North Stream-2” project belongs to European energy sovereignty. German Chancellor Merkel has repeatedly publicly expressed her support for the “North Stream-2” natural gas pipeline project and considered U.S. sanctions unacceptable.
Klaus Ernst, chairman of the Energy and Economic Committee of the German Bundestag, said in an exclusive interview with the reporter of the station that the United States acted like gangsters. In Ernst’s view, the main reason for the U.S. sanctions against North Creek-2 is the desire to sell American shale gas to Europe.
Klaus Ernst, Chairman of the Energy and Economic Committee of the German Bundestag: U.S. sanctions are a kind of extortion, and I have always compared it to gangster behavior. The behavior of the United States is not in Germany’s interest, but for its own purposes, Europe does not want to buy American shale gas, and Germany does not want it at all. This means that the United States uses its economic power, political power to interfere with Germany’s economic needs, which is completely unacceptable to us.
Ernst believes that the “North Stream-2” project is in the common interest of Europe and Russia. Regarding that the “North Stream-2” project may encounter greater obstruction from the United States in the future, Ernst said that Germany and the European Union are considering and discussing countermeasures against the United States.
