Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
The center-right European Peoples' Party (EPP), the largest group in the European Parliament, has taken a strong position against Rissia's Nord Stream-2 project, said the article published in EurActiv.
The project aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year to Europe across the Baltic Sea. In September
2015 Russia's Gazprom, E.On, Shell, OMV, BASF and Engie signed a shareholders agreement on the project.
Manfred Weber, president of the EPP group in the European Parliament, has sent a letter to Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete and to German Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy Sigmar Gabriel, condemning the project as incompatible with core EU principles and objectives, EurActiv reported.
In his letter he said that Nord Stream 2 contradicts the EU's foreign policy, security and goals of the Eastern Partnership, the format of relations between the EU and its eastern European neighbours.
"The EU risks creating detrimental consequences for the gas supply in Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, in particular against the background of Gazprom's announcement to stop gas deliveries to Ukraine once Nord Stream-2 is finalised," the letter adds.
Weber writes that the EPP believes that Nord Stream-2 should not only be excluded from EU financial support, but that the Third Energy package must fully apply to the project.
Earlier Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak stated that the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline fully complies with European legislation.
"There were no questions relating to the ecological impact on the environment, there were no question by anti-monopoly services, and there were no questions of any discrepancy to the energy legislation of the European Union," Novak told Russia-24 television.
He added that the decision on construction of the pipeline was more likely to be "made in the nearest future."