Report: 24 EU states protest against US Nord Stream-2 sanctions

BERLIN/HELSINKI, Aug 14 (PRIME) -- Representatives of 24 E.U. countries protested against the sanctions that Washington plans to impose on the Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline, German daily Welt reported late on Thursday without specifying the level of the European delegation and the three countries that did not join.

“We can confirm that a demarche has occurred on August 12 against the U.S. sanction policy (at an online conference) during a meeting of an E.U. delegation with the U.S. foreign policy authority. Twenty four member states took part in the demarche,” European diplomatic sources told Welt.

The note of protest reiterates a July 17 statement of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, in which he said that the E.U. was deeply concerned with the cases of the U.S. implementing or threatening to implement sanctions against European companies, including sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 and TurkStream pipelines.

But Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Estonian radio and television portal ERR in an interview that the U.S. plan to impose sanctions on the European companies that partake in the Nord Stream-2 project coincides with interests of Tallinn.

“I think that the steps that would help block the Nord Stream-2 serve the interests of Estonia, and I understand the logic of actions of the U.S.,” he said, adding that the European countries have no unified opinion on the pipeline.

The Nord Stream-2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Russian gas giant Gazprom is implementing the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, and France’s Engie. The length of the pipeline’s route exceeds 1,200 kilometers.

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