Ukraine-EU summit participants call Nord Stream 2 pipeline a mistake
During a joint press statement with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on the results of the 20th Ukraine-EU summit in Brussels on Monday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the construction of Nord Stream 2 “completely nullifies all of Europe’s gas independence”, since Europe will be more dependent on Russian gas.
Poroshenko added that Ukraine remains a strategic partner of European countries in energy matters - “a partner who will supply European countries with the necessary gas”. He called for the termination of the Nord Stream 2 project.
“And this is what I want to say once again, that the Nord Stream 2 project is impossible, and we call for the construction of this project to be stopped. It is not a commercial project, it is neither economic nor profitable – it is an absolutely political project, and makes no sense whatsoever from an economic point of view, to create this project. With absolute certainty it is a geopolitical project,” Poroshenko said, noting that the project had been discussed during the Ukraine-EU summit.
According to him, Ukraine is trying to show its European partners that the goal of this project is to weaken Ukraine and stop its gas transit to Europe.
“We are doing everything possible in order to stop this Russian geopolitical project, so that Europe can be free of the monopolization of the European energy market,” the head of state emphasized.
Donald Tusk, in turn, responded that the European Commission is trying to create new energy rules which “will help to stop the realization of this project, but I cannot say that this process is productive at present”.
“I think that this project is a mistake, it will not be in the interests of the EU. We need to protect our own interests,” Tusk said.
The joint statement at the conclusion of the summit notes that the EU supports “Ukraine’s role as a strategic gas transit country which provides an accessible, safe and reliable gas supply to the EU”.
“In this context we confirm our willingness to be part of a trilateral process, which will take place with the European Commission’s cooperation, to agree on a contract to transit gas to the EU after 2019,” the joint statement affirms.
On March 21, members of European Parliament supported a bill from the European Commission which would extend the rules for the EU’s internal gas market to gas pipelines not located on the continent. Brussels drew attention to the fact that the Nord Stream 2 project does not comply with the norms of the EU’s Third Energy Package, because it belongs entirely to Gazprom.
Previously the parliaments of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Estonia spoke against the construction of Nord Stream 2 in a joint statement.
However, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany has given authorization for the construction of a 30 km stretch of the gas pipeline.
The US and Ukraine are actively opposing the realization of Nord Stream 2.