UPDATE 3: Altmaier says Germany not interested in anti-Russia sanctions

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BERLIN, Feb 21 (PRIME) -- Germany is not interested in sanctions against Russia, they were adopted for political reasons and the countries should work on their change, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said at a conference on Thursday.

“I personally think that we have no interest in sanctions,” Altmaier said. “We’ve adopted the sanctions because we had political reasons for this, we prolonged them many times, the E.U. was united, but we must work to change political relations to arrive at different solutions one time,” Altmaier said.

Altmaier also said that the Russian Nord Stream-2 project will contribute stability of gas supplies to Europe amid decreasing shipments from Norway and the U.K. and rising demand in Germany and Western Europe on the back of an energy sector reform.

Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said that Germany does not think that the planned amendments to the E.U. Gas Directive will influence Nord Stream-2.

“We have discussed this issue today with the German side. The German side thinks that the changes that are being adopted today will not challenge the Stream,” Oreshkin said.

The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce said in a statement backing fulfillment of the Nord Stream-2 project as scheduled. Possible sanctions against participants of Nord Stream-2 are an infringement to the German sovereign rights.

Companies participating in the project insist on no-reclaim of the already issued permits. “Nord Stream-2 is a private economic and business project, five Western European companies participate in financing (each provides 950 million euros): these are Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, Austria’s OMV, U.K.-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell and France’s Engie. These companies, as well as their multiple suppliers, predominantly medium business ones, need surety that the already granted permits will not be revoked,” the organization said.

According to the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, 73% of Germans support Nord Stream-2.

OMV CEO Rainer Seele said that companies investors hope that Germany will continue support of Nord Stream-2. “We, as investors in Nord Stream-2, very consciously lay hopes on Germany. We hope that Germany will retain its leading role in the structure part of the agreement. We hope for Germany but we do not hope for Brussels. We know that we need support from the European Commission but the end points of the pipeline must be taken into consideration, and we hope that Germany will continue support of the project.”

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. Gazprom will implement the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, and France’s Engie.

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