EU Lawmaker Prepares Resolution Seeking to Stop Nord Stream 2 Project


TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The European Parliament member from Latvia, Sandra Kalniete, has prepared a resolution to be reviewed at the parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs that calls for measures aimed at suspending the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

The resolution draft "underlines that Russia and the EU will remain key economic partners in the foreseeable future, but Nord Stream 2 reinforces EU dependency on Russian gas supplies, threatens the EU internal market and is not in line with EU energy policy, and therefore needs to be stopped."

The proposal comes after, Manfred Weber, a European Parliament member from Germany and the leader of the European People's Party who has long been expressing opposition to the Nord Stream 2, urged Europe earlier in the week to reconsider its investment in the pipeline after Sunday's Kerch Strait incident in which three ships of the Ukrainian Navy were detained after violating the Russian sea border and failing to react to legal demands to abandon dangerous manoeuvres, Sputnik reported.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom and five European companies. It aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of Russian natural gas annually to the European Union via the Baltic Sea and Germany and is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2019.