Recently, the German government has issued a statement on the final work of the North Stream 2 project. The huge gas pipeline, which has begun final countdown for the launch, has become a source of hope for the German people. However, the German side gave a number of reasons for the project not being completed as soon as possible.
First of all, it should be noted that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project is emerging from the Baltic Sea to Lubmin, a small town in German. Currently, not only the central government, but also the local residents of the city are very interested in the completion of this project.
Lubmin is a small town on the northeastern coast of Germany with a population of just over 2,000. As a receiving station for the North Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, it sees itself as a focal point for major infrastructure projects and political games. The last part of the pipeline was welded on Monday and is expected to be completed soon.
Speaking about the benefits of the NS1 and NS2 projects, mayor of the town Lubmin Axel Vogt, who is directly involved in the project, called it the cornerstone of future infrastructure projects in Germany. Vogt also spoke about the political forces and players that hinder the rapid completion of the project. He said that they were not worried about the obstruction created by those political forces, and that European, federal and even American policies were far from the strategic views of Germany.
The German side overtly states that the road to the completion of the Nord Stream 2 was not very transparent. European bureaucrats, who have repeatedly expressed concern about Ukrainian gas transit, as well as the multiple sanctions by the Washington on project, have deterred some companies interested in the project.
He says there are now three obstacles to Germany, which does not take into account the interests of either the United States or Europe, and has great hopes that by the end of the year Russia-linked countries will be able to solve the problem and sell gas without hindrance. This step also shows that Germany expects a lot from Russian gas, and in return, Russia's interests may prevail in Central Europe. Another issue is how Germany will resolve some outstanding political issues with Ukraine and Washington in the context of relation with Russia.
EdNews had an interview with Ukrainian political expert Vadim Tryukhan on the situation with Nord Stream 2.
- The German side assumes the reason for the delay in the Nord Stream 2 project is the obstacles created by the political games of Europe and the US. How will Germany be able to overcome such obstacles from the both powers?
- Russia's Gazprom has announced that the last pipe has already been welded and intends to transport the first cubic meter of gas through the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline by October 1 this year. Thus, European consumers will be able to use Russian gas by December 1. In this case, the volume of gas that the Russians plan to supply with the second branch of the pipeline could be about 5.6 billion cubic meters.
Will these plans come true? It is difficult to predict at present. After all, so far the German regulator has not issued a permit for the operation of this facility. In addition, the commissioning of the pipeline has been postponed for several years, and in fact there was a delay of at least 2 years, despite initial plans to complete the construction of NS2 by the end of 2019.
The reason for the delay was undoubtedly the United States and Europe, which imposed sanctions on the companies involved in the project. New sanctions, as well as court rulings, could become an insurmountable obstacle for Gazprom. However, at present, the probability of launching NS2 is very high.
- Germany openly states that it is extremely dependent on Russian gas. Will Russia use such a situation by putting conditions on Europe for its own interests?
- This thesis is not true. In fact, Germany, like the whole of Europe, can give up gas. This, of course, will happen in the future, in 20 or may be 30 years. Moreover, despite the existence of gas transmission systems through Ukraine and Belarus, there is no economic reason to invest billions in NS 2.
The NS1 and NS 2 projects themselves are geopolitical construction projects with two goals for the 21st century: The first is to gain a monopoly on Europe in the gas sector; 2) The second is to weaken Ukraine, to deprive it of $ 2-3 billion from gas transit.
However, Russia's possible gas blackmail will have the opposite effect - Europeans will start moving faster towards green energy and will find other sources of gas imports during the transit period.
- How will Germany, which inclined to Russia in exchange for gas, be able to resolve a number of common political issues with Ukraine and Washington?
- At first glance, it may seem that as a result of Europe's dependence on Russian gas, companies, including Germany, will be tied to Gazprom's partners in the NS2 project. However, when you analyse this problem in more depth, such doubts disappear immediately. Germany, like all other EU and NATO members, has always supported Ukraine's bid to join the EU and NATO.
At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the current state of affairs in negotiations with Russia. Despite the fact that whether Europe depends or not on Russian gas, there are very few tools to put pressure on Russia. Only when the Russians try to escalate the aggression, Ukraine can expect a sharp reaction from its European, American and other partners.
By Elnur Enveroglu
