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Former Polish FM warns MEPs against Russia-Germany gas link: report

PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 13.06.2018 11:20
A former Polish foreign minister has warned Europe’s parliamentarians against the Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline being built from Russia to Germany, according to a report.
Anna Fotyga. Photo: Jacek Konecki/Polish RadioAnna Fotyga. Photo: Jacek Konecki/Polish Radioacek Konecki/Polish Radio

Speaking in the European Parliament, Anna Fotyga said that the already operating Nord Stream 1 gas link "enabled Russia to annex Crimea" from Ukraine in 2014, Poland’s wpolityce.pl online news service reported.

“What can the construction of Nord Stream 2 lead to?” Fotyga said during a European Parliament debate on Tuesday, as quoted by wpolityce.pl.

“The construction of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline enabled Russia to annex Crimea. What can the construction of Nord Stream 2 lead to?” Fotyga, who was Poland's foreign minister from 2006 to 2007, was quoted as saying.

The debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg was held ahead of a European Council meeting scheduled for June 28-29, wpolityce.pl reported.

Fotyga took the floor on behalf of MEPs linked to Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, wpolityce.pl said.

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in late May that the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea was “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the European Union and NATO.

Speaking at a meeting of NATO lawmakers in Warsaw, Morawiecki warned that the controversial pipeline project, opposed by Poland and other countries, might “have far-reaching geopolitical consequences."

He argued at the gathering that the existing Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline had enabled Russia to obtain funds that it later used to modernise its army. He referred to Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008, annexation of Crimea in 2014 and aggression in eastern Ukraine, according to reports.

Experts gathered at a conference in Washington in May warned that the Russia-Germany gas link, which is already under construction, posed a threat to Europe's energy security.

The US State Department spokeswoman said in March that the US government opposed Nord Stream 2 as the project would undermine Europe’s energy security and stability.

(gs/pk)

Source: wpolityce.pl

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