{"id":2214,"date":"2019-01-10T17:41:18","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T17:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=2214"},"modified":"2019-01-10T17:41:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T17:41:18","slug":"germany-wobbles-on-russian-gas-pipeline-as-tensions-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=2214","title":{"rendered":"Germany wobbles on Russian gas pipeline as tensions mount"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Bloomberg\/Berlin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Support in German Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s coalition for a major new Russian gas pipeline is slipping as frustration with the Kremlin\u2019s brinkmanship grows and pressure from US President Donald Trump starts to bite.
\nNord Stream 2, an $11bn project that will double the natural gas supply under the Baltic Sea to Germany, faces growing scepticism among German officials who had previously defended it against criticism from Trump and some European Union allies, according to senior lawmakers. The shift could translate into pressure on Merkel\u2019s government to back down on the controversial pipeline and possibly delay its implementation.
\nSocial Democratic lawmaker Nils Schmid, whose party has been a reliable supporter of the project, said too many decision-makers in Berlin had been slow to factor in Nord Stream\u2019s geopolitical significance. It will reduce the volume of gas pumped through Ukraine as Russia attempts to stifle its neighbour\u2019s economy by depriving it of lucrative transit fees.
\n\u201cThe debate in Germany has become more critical,\u201d Schmid, the junior coalition party\u2019s point man on foreign policy, said in an interview, adding that the project shouldn\u2019t go forward until Russia and Ukraine reach a transit accord. \u201cIt would have been better to take this political dimension into account.\u201d
\nThe 1,200-km (750-mile) undersea pipeline \u2013 being constructed by Russia\u2019s Gazprom PJSC to bolster German supplies as Norwegian, Dutch and domestic sources dry up \u2013 has been pilloried by some of the country\u2019s allies, who say it bolsters Europe\u2019s reliance on Russian energy and bypasses key partners such as Ukraine. Trump has blasted the project as holding Germany \u201ccaptive\u201d to Russia.
\nThe ground is shifting, with an ever more fraught relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, particularly since the November seizure of two dozen Ukrainian sailors near the Sea of Azov. Merkel, who has sparred with Putin since the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, is demanding the release of the naval personnel.
\nThe Azov incident in the Kerch Strait has soured prospects that Merkel\u2019s diplomacy can scale back the conflict in eastern Ukraine, according Juergen Hardt, a lawmaker in Merkel\u2019s Christian Democratic Union who speaks on foreign affairs.
\n\u201cThe events on the Kerch Strait at least showed me that these are unfulfilled hopes,\u201d Hardt said in an interview. \u201cRussia, in my view, isn\u2019t moving a millimetre from its objectives.\u201d
\nHardt said Germany\u2019s governing parties need to find consensus with the European Commission on energy diversification and reliance on Russian gas. He also questioned the economic viability of Nord Stream, poking holes in the government\u2019s previous defence of the project.
\nMerkel shifted her position on Nord Stream last April, acknowledging the political dimensions of the pipeline and departing from her previous insistence that it was solely a business venture by private investors. The project must not weaken Ukraine by disrupting its gas transmission system, she said at the time.
\nRichard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, welcomed the more sceptical view in Berlin, saying the pipeline project undermines the EU\u2019s energy and security objectives.
\n\u201cThere is not only Russian gas coming through the pipeline, but also Russian influence,\u201d Grenell said in a statement to Bloomberg News. \u201cNow is not the time to reward Moscow.\u201d
\nThe US administration has indicated that sanctions on the pipeline are imminent. Trump brought tensions over Nord Stream into full view at last July\u2019s NATO summit, raising the issue as he attacked Merkel over Germany\u2019s slack defence spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bloomberg\/Berlin Support in German Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s coalition for a major new Russian gas pipeline is slipping as frustration with the Kremlin\u2019s brinkmanship grows and pressure from US President Donald Trump starts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46,57,90,96,107,137,139,160,174,184,201,202,209,232,233,244,246,249,256,267,277,279,288],"class_list":["post-2214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aramco","tag-baroudi","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-embargo","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-international-maritime-disputes","tag-lebanon","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-straddling-hydrocarbons-reserves","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}