No Poles nominated as EU ambassadors: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
12.05.2017 15:35
No Poles have been nominated to head European Union embassies around the world, according to a list of 43 top officials recently released by Politico.
Photo: Flickr.com/mpd01605
The website said that EU head of foreign policy Federica Mogherini’s list of new appointees included a “mix of current EU diplomats, national diplomats, and EU high-flyers”.
Among these is Markus Ederer, currently serving as state secretary at the German foreign ministry, Politico said, adding that its diplomatic sources said Ederer “is well-placed to assist any future thawing of EU-Russia relations”.
Poland’s Biznes Alert website said that as EU ambassador to Moscow, Ederer “could be key” in discussions about the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Biznes Alert editor-in-chief Wojciech Jakóbik said that Ederer was associated with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, “well-known for his pro-Russian stance”. Steinmeier is the current president of Germany after serving as German foreign minister since 2013.
Ederer’s appointment to Moscow “could mean that the European Commission will be blind to future controversial actions by Russia,” Jakóbik said.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is set to be completed by the end of 2019, and would run through the bottom of the Baltic sea from Russia straight to Germany. It would be able to transit 55 billion cubic metres of gas a year.
Poland and several other Baltic sea countries, as well as Ukraine, strongly oppose the project, saying it is a political decision which decreases Europe’s energy security and increases the EU’s dependency on Russian gas. (rg/pk)