Divided EU declines to act on objections to Russian gas project
Some European Union leaders have raised objections to Russia's plan to build a new gas pipeline to Germany at a summit in Brussels, but the bloc is divided on the matter and took no action, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says.
EU diplomats said the leaders of Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, and Latvia raised their concerns about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is slated to run from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, during a discussion on security issues on October 19, RFL reports.
Eastern European and Baltic Sea states have expressed concern that the project would strengthen Moscow's hand by increasing European reliance on Russian natural gas, and have also objected that it would cut gas-transit revenues for Ukraine, damaging Kyiv's fragile economy.
Nordic states, meanwhile, have raised security concerns over the pipeline being laid near their shores under the Baltic, where Russia has bolstered its military presence.
But Germany and several other Northern European countries have sought an alternative to the current pipeline running through Ukraine, where disputes with Russia have led at times to the threat of gas cutoffs, and have defended the commercial gains their energy firms stand to see from the project.
Germany, the EU's biggest economy, in particular has embraced the prospect of taking delivery of 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Russia, and has said Brussels should not get involved with the project.
Juncker said on October 19 the European Commission aligned itself with members who raised objections to the deal and asked for a mandate from EU leaders to negotiate with Russia over the project.
But he told reporters in Brussels that leaders turned down his request in light of the split among members.
"There is no unanimity among member states to give the commission a mandate to discuss the matter with Russia," he said. "I don't think that we will have unanimity on this" anytime soon, he added.
