REUTERS
The implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project will violate the principles of transparency.
Director-General for Energy in the European Commission Dominique Ristori says the construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine does not contribute to the diversification of gas supplies to Europe and will not be supported by the EC.
"Our position is clear: we believe that Nord Stream 2 does not facilitate the diversification of sources and routes of gas supplies... It will not be supported by the European Commission," he said at a briefing at Ukraine's Energy and Coal Industry Ministry in Kyiv on Friday, April 6.
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The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, if built, will violate the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and free access of European consumers to energy sources, the official said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman on April 6 called Nord Stream 2 to be Russia's political project, which poses a threat to democracy in Europe and aims to get Europe "hooked up" on Russian gas. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy also spoke against the project.
Ukraine's parliament on April 4 called on the international community to do its utmost to outlaw the construction of Nord Stream 2.
UNIAN memo. The Nord Stream 2 project involves the construction of two strings of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year from the Russian coast via the Baltic Sea to Germany. A new pipeline is expected to be built next to Nord Stream 1.
According to Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev, Nord Stream 2 in no way contributes to the diversification of gas supplies to the EU and neither does it provide the European Union with access to new sources of gas. Moreover, the pipeline could deprive Ukraine of transit revenue, which was estimated at about US$3 billion by the end of 2017.