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Friday 4 December 2020
Nord Stream penalties 2
The United States Congress wants to block the pipeline
With a sanction against the companies involved, the US prevents the completion of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic gas pipeline. Now the US Congress wants to tighten the measures. But they do not want to act against the governments of their European allies.
In the dispute over the German-Russian Baltic Sea gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, the US Congress wants to exclude sanctions against the governments and authorities of European partner states such as Germany. However, the threatened punitive measures must be extended against the companies involved in the project. This emerges from the US defense budget bill, which Democrats and Republicans agreed on in both houses of the US Congress.
According to this, sanctions against companies should only be allowed after consulting potentially affected governments of the EU member states, Switzerland, Norway and Great Britain. Until now, it was only known that both the House of Representatives and the Senate – the two houses of the United States Congress – wanted to tighten sanctions against the companies involved in the pipeline. In the two bills that have now been brought together for the defense budget package, so far there has been no mention of the need to consult European partners or that sanctions against governments or authorities in Europe are not allowed. After being approved by both chambers, US President Donald Trump must sign the law for it to take effect.
Ships in sight
Almost a year ago, construction work on the Nord Stream 2 was halted after the United States enacted a sanctions law (Peesa) against special vessels laying pipes. The two Swiss deposition ships were then withdrawn. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would complete the work independently, regardless of foreign partners.
Under the sanctions, those affected could be barred from entering the United States. Any interested person or corporate property in the United States can be frozen. In October, the US State Department released new guidelines under which the provision of certain services and facilities to lay ships could be penalized.
The new US bill (Peesca) now provides for a further tightening of punitive measures. Consequently, companies that supply ships for other activities related to laying work must also be penalized. This could include trenching for the pipeline. Companies that insure affected ships or make their port facilities available to them are also threatened with sanctions. The same goes for companies that are certifying the pipeline so that it can be published.
It has now been added to the draft that the US Secretary of State must consult the governments of these countries before imposing sanctions on companies in the EU member states, Switzerland, Norway and Great Britain. In his report to Congress – which is the basis for the imposition of sanctions – the minister must express all the concerns raised by these governments. It also states that the sanctions are not applicable against the listed European governments and their entities.
No changes from the new US government
The US government only made it clear last month that it wanted to stop the pipeline shortly before completion and increase sanctions pressure on the European companies involved. “This pipeline will not take place,” said a senior US government representative at the time of the German news agency in Washington. The government has identified the companies and individuals who face initial sanctions. The new threats have aroused indignation in German business and politics. The US government official said Nord Stream 2 supporters should not hope there will be a change of government in Washington. He stressed that both Peesa and Peesca receive bipartisan support and have mandatory sanctions. “This means that the penalties will apply regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.”
In the future, 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be pumped from Russia to Germany each year through the two 1,200-kilometer Nord Stream 2 pipelines, bypassing Ukraine. The pipeline, which costs about 9.5 billion euros, is 94% ready. However, the US has been fighting against this phenomenon for years, justifying it with the fact that its European partners are too dependent on Russian gas. They are supported by Eastern European countries such as Poland and the Baltic countries. However, critics accuse the US of wanting to better sell their liquefied gas only in Europe.
In Nord Stream 2 AG, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, the Russian company Gazprom is formally the sole shareholder. In addition, German groups Wintershall Dea – a joint venture between BASF and LetterOne – and Uniper (a spin-off of Eon) as well as Dutch-British Shell, Engie (former GDF Suez) from France and OMV from France are added as “supporters”. Austria. The chairman of Nord Stream’s supervisory board is former chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD), in Nord Stream 2 he is chairman of the board.
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