Washington recently stepped up sanctions pressure on the joint Russian-Western European energy infrastructure project, threatening to cut off access to the US financial system for any company providing Nord Stream 2 AG with insurance and certification services. Moscow has stressed that the $10.5 billion project will be completed as planned.
The regional parliament in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has voted in favour of an initiative proposed by the regional government to set up a special environmental fund which will help protect the interests of the participants of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project from US sanctions.
In minutes of an emergency session of parliament published Thursday, the parliament’s press office confirmed that the “application [of the regional government] has been accepted.”
Later Thursday, Die Linke lawmaker Klaus Ernst, Bundestag chairman of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Energy, told Sputnik that he supports Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s decision to set up the foundation, and suggested the idea could be expanded to the national level.
“With this fund we should ensure that the sanctions against Nord Stream 2 go nowhere. In this regard, I welcome the work of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern government, as well as former Prime Minister Erwin Sellering, who intends to become the foundation’s honorary chairman.”
Nord Stream 2 AG is listed as a partner of the foundation. Christian Pegel, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s minister for energy, said Wednesday that the gas infrastructure will serve to assist Germany in its effort to phase out nuclear and coal power, providing the state with the ability to use highly flexible gas-powered plants which can help power the region when alternative energy resources aren’t available.
The foundation will allow Nord Stream 2 to be marketed as an important element of environmental protection, and allow German companies to provide services through the foundation directly instead of the project operator, thus shielding them from sanctions.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the state where the Nord Stream 2 pipeline originating in Russia makes landfall in Germany.
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Sourse: sputniknews.com
