According to him, the regulation of the certification procedure allows “not even to delay, but to carry out this consideration in the first, second conditionally instance, stretching it out for many months.”
He also admits that certification could be complicated by US influence on Germany. According to Pankin, “maybe there is an American sledgehammer – why not imagine that the Americans will tell the Germans not to buy a single gram of Russian gas via Nord Stream.”
The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation stressed that the gas pipeline “may or may not be certified, they can apply anything … Intrigues can be at every step.”
Context:
Construction of Nord Stream 2, which should connect the RF and the FRG along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine, fully completed… On November 8, 2021, Gazprom announced that the pipeline ready to launch.
The authorities of Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia consider the pipeline a threat to energy security Europe.
Joe Biden’s administration spoke against the construction of a gas pipeline, however, at the end of May 2021, the head of the White House called it “counterproductive” from the point of view of relations with Europe, the introduction of new sanctions against Nord Stream 2, since the gas pipeline is “practically finished.”
Germany and the United States announced on July 21, 2021 that they have concluded agreement on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline… Germany promised to apply national sanctions against Russia and call for effective EU measures if Russia continues to use gas as a an instrument of pressure on other countries or “will commit further aggressive actions against Ukraine.”
The Supreme Land Court of Dusseldorf, Germany, on 25 August this year, ordered the pipeline operator be independent from Gazprom and adhere to European legislation.
OGTSU reportedthat Nord Stream 2 AG, which is 100% owned by Russia’s Gazprom, applied for certification as an independent operator of the Nord Stream 2 transmission system on September 8 to the Federal Network Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany.
“German Wave” noted that a preliminary decision on Nord Stream 2 should be made by the Federal Network Agency of Germany, and then the European Commission will have to express its position on the gas pipeline, it can take up to four months to develop a conclusion. After that, the German regulator will have another two months to make a final decision.
On November 16, it became known that the German Federal Network Agency suspended certification “Nord Stream – 2”. The OGTSU company admitted that Gazprom will try to bypass EU legislation for pipeline certification.
President of the German Federal Network Agency Jochen Hohmann noted on December 16 that Nord Stream 2 will not be launched in the first half of 2022… According to him, Nord Stream AG has begun the process of setting up a subsidiary in Germany. Hohmann added that Nord Stream 2 certification will resume as soon as the company provides the necessary documents.
Vice-Chancellor of Germany Robert Habek in an interview with the FAZ newspaper published on December 18, called a mistake the Nord Stream 2 project.
– .
