Former Chancellor of Germany, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft and Chairman of the Committee of Shareholders of Nord Stream AG Gerhard Schroeder called the forthcoming introduction of US restrictions against Nord Stream-2 a deliberate termination of the transatlantic partnership.
It is reported with reference to the Handelsblatt publication.
The publication announced Schroeder’s position at the upcoming open hearings of the Bundestag Committee on Economics and Energy, which will discuss the Russian Nord Stream-2 project, as well as the energy sovereignty of Europe and Germany. Experts will make reports at the meeting; consideration will be given to new sanctions in the United States against the construction of the gas pipeline.
“More than 120 companies in the field of shipbuilding, engineering, environmental protection and safety, who work or have worked with Nord Stream 2, are directly affected. For each of these companies there are European jobs that are at risk”, – Schroeder points out.
According to him, the financial consequences of the sanctions would be extremely serious. In particular, an investment of 12 billion euros in European infrastructure would be “at risk”. Also, according to him, consumers in Europe would face additional costs of 4 billion euros per year.
Former Chancellor of Germany said that sanctions against a NATO ally during a recession “are nothing but a deliberate termination of the transatlantic partnership”, “an attack on the European economy, an unacceptable encroachment on EU sovereignty and the energy security of Western Europe”.
Nord Stream-2 involves the construction of two pipelines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to Germany.
The United States is actively opposing the project, promoting its liquefied natural gas in the EU, as well as Ukraine and several European countries. At the end of 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on the project, demanding pipe companies to immediately stop construction. Swiss Allseas almost immediately announced the suspension of its activities.