US ambassador criticizes European Commission on Nord Stream 2

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U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland Thursday criticized the European Commission for not putting more effort into killing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, writes Politico. The Commission is trying to regulate the operation of the contentious Gazprom-led project through amended EU gas rules, but argues it cannot stop the pipeline from being built because its construction doesn’t violate EU rules.

Using the rule-of-law argument is “a very convenient excuse for essentially facilitating primarily Germany’s desire to have cheap energy from wherever it comes,” Sondland said.

He said the EU should decrease its dependency on russian gas, adding that “if history teaches us anything is that it’s the wrong place to hang your hat.”

He described the U.S. as a “co-signer” to the EU’s energy security and said that “we don’t want to have to show up in the middle of January when russia cuts off gas.”

Asked whether the U.S. is considering imposing sanctions to stop Nord Stream 2, Sondland said that “sanctions are tools that are in the president’s arsenal. They are always a possibility.”

As reported, the European Parliament has confirmed a possibility of higher EU dependency on russian gas supplies and a growing threat for the EU internal market in case the Nord Stream 2 is implemented.

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