German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin on May 28 that his government will do everything to ensure that Nord Stream 2 from Russia to Germany cannot be put back into operation. But some German politicians — even from within Merz’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), including Saxony’s state premier Michael Kretschme, have called for resuming gas supplies via the Nord Stream pipelines.
During a plenary debate at the European Parliament in Brussels on the evening of May 21, Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen and Polish Minister for European Union Affairs Adam Szlapka debated the phase-out of Russian gas as well as Nord Stream and EU energy sovereignty. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, Parliament has called repeatedly for an end to Russian energy imports.
“This is a timely and important debate. On Nord Stream’s fate: decisions on its future – whether to decommission, repurpose, or preserve the pipes depend largely on German jurisdiction as the landing point and key regulatory authority,” Tatiana Mitrova, a research fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told NE Global on May 22. “The EU as an institution does not have direct ownership or regulatory control over the infrastructure, but it can exert pressure via sanctions, environmental rules, and funding decisions,” she added.
“On phasing out Russian gas: it’s technically feasible, but politically and economically painful – especially for Central and Eastern Europe and key industrial players,” Mitrova said, adding that much will depend on the next European Commission’s priorities and how the war and negotiations evolve.
Speculation is growing that a revival of Nord Stream could be a part of a deal for the end of the war in Ukraine.
Chris Weafer, CEO of Macro-Advisory, the leading independent strategic business consultancy in the Eurasia region, wrote in a report recently that after a cold winter and the end of Ukrainian transit gas in Europe at the start of this year, Europe has a 25 billion-cubic-meter gas deficit – exactly the capacity of the surviving Nord Stream pipeline that is still full of technical gas and which could be turned on quickly.
The European Commission confirmed on May 23 that it has started consultations on possible sanctions against Nord Stream 2. This action is aimed at reducing pressure on the German government to open the undamaged pipeline when a peace agreement is signed, Weafer wrote, arguing that Moscow intends to offer discounted gas for 12-24 months to incentivize German utilities to buy gas via this route.
Opening the plenary debate on Russian energy phase out, Jørgensen said in Brussels on May 21 that since Russia’s aggression in February 2022, the EU has worked hard to stop imports of Russian energy. “We have gone from 45 percent of our gas coming from Russia in 2022 to 13 percent today,” he said.
The Energy Commissioner said that in June the Commission plans to introduce new rules on transparency, monitoring and traceability of Russian gas and to ban, at the EU level, all imports of Russian gas under new contracts and spot contracts, taking effect at the end of this year and to ban the remaining imports of Russian pipeline gas and liquified natural gas (LNG) under existing long-term contracts by the end of 2027.
“We will also request mandatory national plans from Member States for phasing out of Russian gas, nuclear fuel and oil,” Jørgensen said. “The Commission will support Member States and we recommend that the first plans are submitted this year already, to allow for a secure and well-prepared phase out. To safeguard security of supply and safety, this will be done in a carefully gradual way. The decision to phase out Russian gas is based on a fundamental decision to change the trade relations with Russia to avoid security risks,” he said.
EU Commission sees no future use for Nord Stream
“Given this important policy shift, we see no conceivable scenario for a future use of Nord Stream for the transport of Russian energy to Europe. This is in the interest of our economic security, but also in our strategic interest to produce our own cleaner and more affordable energy in the EU,” Jørgensen said.
“The phasing-out of energy imports from Russia is a part of our overall strategy over the past years to diversify energy sources, strengthen our security of supply and phase-out fossil fuels altogether,” the Commissioner said.
He reminded that due to the support from the Connecting Europe Facility, the European Energy Programme for Recovery, cohesion funds and other instruments, several key gas infrastructure projects in Central and Southeastern Europe have come online – enabling the EU to phase out supply from Russia.
The EU Commission is also steering joint regional efforts on the infrastructure and regulatory actions of Central and Southeastern European countries,” Jørgensen noted. “In short, we are taking a number of different steps, and they all take us in the same direction: towards more secure, sustainable and diverse energy supplies for a more competitive and independent Europe,” Jørgensen concluded.
