In view of Putin's decision to recognise pro-Russian separatist Ukrainian territories

Scholz halts approval process for Russian-German gas pipeline Nordstream 2

photo_camera PHOTO/BERND VON JUTRCZENKA - Olaf Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Tuesday that he was blocking the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's move to recognise pro-Russian separatist territories in Ukraine.

"In the context of the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the German government is halting the approval process for the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline until further notice," the chancellor said.

"There can be no certification" of the infrastructure, Scholz told reporters in Berlin, saying that "the situation has changed" following Moscow's recognition of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics of Donbas.

El logotipo del proyecto de gasoducto Nord Stream 2 se ve en una tubería en la planta de laminación de tubos de ChelPipe Group en Chelyabinsk, Rusia

Scholz said that the German government and the executives of its European Union partners will announce "in a coordinated manner" today the sanctions they will impose on Russia for what he called a "breach" by Russia of international agreements signed by Moscow in recent decades.

The chancellor admitted that a quarter of Germany's energy supply is currently based on gas consumption, and he also acknowledged that the decision to prevent Nord Stream 2 from coming into operation will have consequences for the country's supply.

However, he added that the issue of "diversification" of the country's energy supply sources has already begun to be addressed, and that this initiative is part of a "European task" in view of the new situation created by Russia's attitude towards Ukraine.

Mapa de Europa con la red de gasoductos, incluido el Nord Stream 2

Scholz alluded to the fact that Germany has already begun to diversify its energy mix in a way that will increase the importance of energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydrogen, and that the weight of gas will therefore be reduced anyway.

With regard to the certification of the pipeline, he explained that, together with the Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck, the situation created by the change in the security of energy supply situation is now being assessed and that the certification of the infrastructure will be assessed in the light of this.

The pipeline controlled by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which has already been completed and built with the participation of German companies, is intended to transport gas directly from Russia to the west of the European Union via Germany, thus avoiding transit through Ukraine.

Una señal de carretera dirige el tráfico hacia la entrada de las instalaciones del gasoducto Nord Stream 2 en Lubmin, Alemania

Chancellor Scholz has only in recent days opened up the possibility of including such infrastructure in consideration for a possible response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, although he had not explicitly alluded to suspending its certification.

Germany's Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, spoke clearly of this possibility at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, saying that Germany was prepared to "pay a high price" to defend the values that the Russian government is endangering by threatening Ukraine.

Germany's Federal Network Agency announced several weeks ago that the certification process for the pipeline was temporarily suspended until all the formalities required by German law had been completed, and a permit was not expected to be granted until at least the first half of 2022.

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