... Europeans comply with their own laws and demonstrates the benefits of pumping gas through Nord Stream 2. And it is Ukraine that is, in fact, blackmailing the Europeans when it says that the financial burden will rest on their shoulders in the event that Gazprom fails to pay the billions of dollars per year that it is demanding to transit gas. Caught between a rock and a hard place – the United States and Germany (for which Nord Stream 2 is extremely beneficial) – Sweden has chosen to blindly execute the necessary procedures. It has reviewed the documents submitted for the presence of fire hazards and has issued a construction permit.
That the United ...
... leader, may largely decide the future of Nord Stream 2. Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel has already
said
that Nord Stream 2 will be implemented regardless of the sanctions against Russia and that it is on the Germany’s economic projects list. Germany could also influence those states whose energy regulators have not yet made up their minds with regard to laying Nord Stream 2 in their territorial waters, such as Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Gazprom’s partners in the project, Royal Dutch Shell, E.On, OMV, Wintershall and Engie, also have significant lobbying powers.
The European Commission insists
that Nord Stream 2 cannot exist “in a legal void, or according to Russian law only....
... require it to guarantee the stable supply of gas to Central and Eastern European countries. However, gas not intended for Central and Eastern Europe, including that which travels through the Yamal–Europe pipeline, will run through a new route, and Germany will become the largest gas hub in Europe. Gazprom, in turn, will become
the leading supplier of gas to Germany, with a 60-per cent share of the market
. But there are a number of obstacles in the way of Nord Stream 2 becoming a reality. The most often cited of these – that increasing gas ...
