One of Germany's ruling parties calls to dismantle Nord Stream-2
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The parliamentary faction Free Democrats, one of the three members of the ruling "traffic light coalition," called for dismantling the still not launched russian gas pipeline North Stream-2.
Spiegel reports this.
"We demand the dismantling of Nord Stream 2 and the development of a concept of legal, technical and legal protection as soon as possible," the position document approved at the meeting in Bremen states.
"Free Democrats" emphasize that Nord Stream was a geopolitical project aimed at isolating Ukraine from the beginning and ultimately harming Germany.
The party calls for expanding sanctions against russia's leadership and expelling relatives of russians subject to sanctions from the country who have visas and the right to reside in Germany.
They also note that if individual countries, including candidates for EU membership, are in no hurry to join the sanctions, help the russian federation to circumvent them, or even supply the russian federation with weapons, there should be consequences for this.
Reference
Nord Stream 2 is a natural gas pipeline stretching 1,200-kilometer underwater in the Baltic Sea from russia to Germany. The more than $11 billion project started in 2011 was completed in September 2021 but wasn't launched because of the pending certification by Germany and the European Union.
Nord Stream 2 follows the same path as Nord Stream 1, which was finished over a decade ago. Like Nord Stream 1, the idle pipeline can transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually from russia to elsewhere in Europe, potentially stimulating the continent's access to relatively low-priced gas when domestic production is declining. russia's Gazprom, who owns half of Nord Stream 2, said the pipeline would've offered an alternative to Ukraine's pipeline with lower costs by saving transit fees paid to Ukraine.
However, the launch would've meant Europe's total dependence on russian energy amid russia's aggression toward Ukraine—the accumulation of russian troops along northern, eastern, and southern borders, including the waters of the Black Sea, following russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and 8-year war in Donbas.
On February 22, Germany halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea natural gas pipeline project designed to double the flow of russian gas to Germany, a day after Moscow formally recognized the russian-occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent states.
With russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the project is shut down.
Since then, Polish President Andrzej Duda has called to dismantle Nord Stream 2.
