According to the head of the Ministry of Economy, Peter Altmaier, the decision on the construction of the pipeline should be assessed and made “regardless of individual cases”
In an interview published on Sunday to the media group Funke, German Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier said he believes it is wrong to link the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project with the situation around Alexei Navalny and other isolated cases.
“We should not link the completion of Nord Stream 2″ to the Navalny case. We should assess and decide on the construction and completion of the pipeline independently of the individual cases”, – Altmaier said. – “In 50 years, gas supply has never been a political weapon between East and West. It has been for the security of our gas supply. We have to weigh this up very carefully before we step back from this line.”
The German minister recalled that the decision to build Nord Stream 2 was made long ago.
“The project was approved in accordance with the legislative procedures by the authorities of various European countries”, – he added.