NORD STREAM 2: LEGITIMATE BUSINESS
PLATTS - 21 Jan 2021 - The European Parliament has again called for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project to be halted, this time in light of the arrest in Moscow of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
In a resolution that will be voted on later Jan. 21, the Parliament called on the EU and its member states to devise a new strategy for the EU's relations with Russia.
Specifically, it called on the EU and its member states to "critically review cooperation with Russia in various foreign policy platforms and on projects such as Nord Stream 2, the completion of which the EU must stop immediately."
It would be up to EU member states to agree on any action, if any, to be taken.
Navalny was arrested on his return to Moscow from Berlin on Jan. 17.
The Parliament approved in September 2020 a similar resolution in light of the poisoning of Navalny in August.
However, Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, reiterated as recently as Jan. 18 that EU companies involved in the construction of the pipeline were conducting "legitimate business."
Borrell said he was aware of the European Parliament's various resolutions on the subject of Nord Stream 2, but that it was not his place to take a position on the merits of Nord Stream 2 as an energy or political project.
"The Commission's objective has always been to ensure that, if built, Nord Stream 2 operates in respect of EC law," he said in response to a question by a member of the European Parliament.
Russia says Nord Stream 2 is a commercial project, backed by five European energy companies, and should not be used for political point-scoring.
A little more than 150 km of Nord Stream 2 remains to be laid in Danish and German waters, but the threat of US sanctions against companies involved in laying the pipeline has led to long delays in its completion.
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