After 24 hours of doubt regarding the future of Nord Stream 2, Paris and Berlin came to an agreement on Feb. 7 following which the pipeline project will be completed but regulated under strict European legislation.
The French foreign ministry’s spokeswoman Agnes von der Mühll told the press on Feb. 7 that France intended to support a European Union proposal that would expand the union’s energy market legislation, which in turn could jeopardize the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
As of Feb. 7, France’s new position came as a surprise only a few weeks after the meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Aachen, which resulted in the signing of a new treaty that carries both historical and political significance between the two nations.
However, according to AFP, France and Germany have agreed on Feb. 8 to extend EU oversight over “territory and territorial sea of the member state where the first interconnection point is located.”
This new deal will ensure transparency and optimize shared usage of Russian natural gas transiting through the pipeline.
In particular, Nord Stream 2 will be subject to the ownership unbundling rule whereby the gas suppliers cannot also be the owners and operators of gas supply infrastructure, which would change the present ownership structure of the project. Currently, Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom partially owns the company that is to operate the pipeline and is also the supplier of the gas.
Nord Stream 2 has been a very divisive issue in Europe.
The EU parliament strongly condemned the construction project and so do the governments of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Concerns revolve around the increasing dependency of the EU on Russian natural gas supplies – which constituted 37 percent of Europe’s gas imports in 2017 – and the political as well as geopolitical consequences of such a relationship.
On the other hand, Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hungary, Belgium, and Austria have consistently supported the project.
The United States has repeatedly criticized it – pointing out the threat it represents to European energy security, and to Ukraine’s economy.
The transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine generates around $3.5 billion in revenues for Ukraine a year, which represent around 3 percent of the Ukrainian gross domestic product, and the current negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow are at a standstill.
On Feb. 5, Russia 1 TV channel host Olga Skabeeva said that Russia would destroy Ukraine after it would complete the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Five European companies are co-funding the pipeline: OMV, Uniper, Wintershall, Engie and Shell.
