UWC calls for the cancellation of Nord Stream 2 pipeline project

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) welcomes two resolutions adopted on 12 December 2018 by the European Parliament and the United States Congress and joins them in condemning the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline while calling for its termination.

The European Parliament’s resolution reiterated the key role of Ukraine in the European energy supply network. European lawmakers declared the Nord Stream 2 pipeline “a political project that poses a threat to European energy security and the efforts to diversify energy supply” and urged for its cancellation. Earlier, on 6 November 2018, some 100 European politicians wrote an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel urging Germany to drop its persistent political backing of Nord Stream 2 due to the grave political consequences of the project for the unity, security, and energy independence of the EU, including of Germany itself. The project also goes against the expressed will of the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the majority of the Council of the EU.

In its resolution H.Res.1035, the United States Congress similarly calls Nord Stream 2 “a drastic step backwards for European energy security and United States interests” and urges European governments to reject their plans for this pipeline. Congress expressed support for the introduction of sanctions on companies and individuals participating in the Nord Stream 2 project according to section 232 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9526).

“It is long past time for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be cancelled. By doing so, the international community, and Germany in particular, would take a principled position to protect Europe’s energy security and unity and raise the costs of further aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine”, said UWC President Paul Grod.

“The Nord Stream 2 pipeline project must be immediately cancelled,” stated Paul Grod, UWC President. “There is no commercial rationale for this project – it is yet another means for Russia to isolate Ukraine and ensure that Ukraine together with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe become once again beholden to Russia’s energy blackmail. This pipeline would inflict substantial damage on the EU and the CEE states by undermining the political and supply security of the CEE states and would drive a wedge in the creation of a single European gas market, thereby weakening the EU – one of Russia’s long-term strategic aims.”