Nord Stream 2 has cost Europe too much - PM
The German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project has already cost Europe too much. The stake is European security, credibility and independence, and it is rising from year to year, PM Mateusz Morawiecki wrote for Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.
In an article, titled "A European solidarity test," Morawiecki warned that Nord Stream 2 was "tearing the EU's energy policy apart from the inside," and was "making Europe dependent on supplies of Russian gas, ensuring a financial injection for Russia's oligarchy." Most dangerous, Morawiecki wrote, was that through the project Russia was gaining influence on Germany, "one of the main economic and political partners of the EU and NATO."
According to Morawiecki Russia's "neo-imperial tendencies" called for the West's reconsideration of its ties with Moscow.
"It is not enough to state that western democracy and freedom of speech are not fully acceptable to Russia. This must be followed by conclusions regarding political, economic and energy cooperation with Moscow," the PM wrote. He added that the multiple examples of Russia's aggressive policy, like its attacks on Georgia and Ukraine, or the recent poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, showed that "the only rational solution should be the closure of the Nord Stream 2 project."
"Nord Stream 2 has already cost Europe too much, and the stake, which is EU security, credibility and independence, is getting higher with every year," Morawiecki wrote.(PAP)
