EUCO president: Nord Stream 2 should be ruled out

Tusk stressed that Nord Stream 2 – a plan to build a pipeline between Russia and Germany and circumventing Poland – does not fit into European strategy of energy safety and indicated that the subject of the pipeline might come up at next week’s EU summit.

“Nord Stream 2 should be out of the question, because our intention is to break the dependence from the dominant gas provider, and diversify the sources,” Tusk said in Brussels, adding that he is not the only one with such a critical opinion of the pipeline project.

Some 55 billion additional cubic metres of gas a year are expected to flow to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Poland and other Central & Eastern European countries. The agreement has raised serious concerns in the region.

“The Nord Stream deal stipulates exemption from the third-party access rule and thus has been heavily criticised as potentially violating EU regulations," energy expert Tomasz Chmal recently told Polish Radio. (tf/rg/rk)