Germany halts certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline

Following yesterday’s decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognise separatist-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas area German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced today (22 February) that he has halted the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. 

In a tweet the chancellor wrote: “There has been a dramatic change in the situation, and we must now reassess, this will include #NordStream2. I have asked our Economic Affairs Ministry to conduct a new analysis of the security of the energy supply. Under the present circumstances, certification is not possible.”

The move has been widely welcomed. Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko, who supported the sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline said: “We welcome the decision of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action to withdraw the official assessment that Nord Stream 2 has no impact on security of gas supply in Germany. We hope that the Federal Ministry will submit a new conclusion, which will clearly state that Nord Stream 2 poses a threat to such security. This will be the basis for the regulator to reject certification for this gas pipeline. Naftogaz provided the relevant arguments to the German government.

“This demonstrates that Germany stands in solidarity with Ukraine, in particular, supporting our position on Nord Stream 2, which we have been communicating to the new government in recent months. Putin’s revisionist imperial policy poses a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the whole world. Nord Stream 2 is one of the elements of this policy and therefore requires an adequate response.”

The development was also welcomed by other EU leaders.

Former Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev and current Deputy Chairman of Russia's National Security Council has tweeted to Scholz following his decision, saying: "Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans are very soon going to pay €2,000 for 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas!"

Foreign ministers are meeting in Paris for a meeting on the Indo-Pacific region and will now hold an extraordinary Informal Meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Minister on the situation in Ukraine, where they will present their political position on sanctions, as it is an informal meeting no legal approval can be given to sanctions. 

Asked about what this would mean for the security of the EU’s energy supply, European Commission spokesperson Tim McPhie pointed out that the pipeline is not yet supplying energy to Europe. McPhie repeated that President von der Leyen has said that having analysed the situation the EU is confident that it has an adequate supply of gas for any disruptive scenarios where Russia  should decide to partially or completely disrupt gas supplies to the EU. 

The spokesperson also said that the Commission President and Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simpson have been in talks with a number of countries over the course of several months to step-up their their supply of LNG gas to Europe or pipeline gas. The EU is also in contact with other international partners, for example, Japan and Korea about the possibility of redirecting contracted LNG cargoes from these countries to Europe.

Share this article: