German official: Restart of Nord Stream-2 not under discussion

BERLIN, Aug 19 (PRIME) -- The restart of Russia’s Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline project is not discussed, Wolfgang Buchner, deputy spokesperson for the German government, told reporters on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Wolfgang Kubicki, vice president of the German parliament Bundestag, said that it would be reasonable to use the Nord Stream-2 to prevent an energy crisis in Germany. Klaus Ernst, chairman of the bundestag committee on energy, agreed saying that Germany should not suffer from its own sanctions.

“We stopped the certification process of the Nord Stream-2 due to the well-known reasons. The restart of the project is not under discussion right now,” Buchner said.

There are no obstacles for the Nord Stream pipeline and the Ukrainian pipeline to ensure supplies of Russian natural gas to Europe under all the existing contracts, he said.

A German Finance Ministry spokeswoman said in a separate news conference that Minister Christian Lindner believes that the proposals of some German officials to launch the Nord Stream-2 pipeline inappropriate.

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