The EU is not facing a shortage of energy commodities due to the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline approval process. The pipeline does not yet deliver any gas, so it cannot be said that its non-operation would cause a supply failure.
“Nord Stream 2 is not yet operational, it is not yet supplying energy to Europe. It is not a new energy source, it is a completely different pipeline than the ones that Europe is supplied with today. This does not change the current situation,” a spokesman for the European Commission said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany is putting on ice the certification process, at the end of which the pipeline should be launched. Nord Stream 2 connects Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea and doubles the capacity of the direct link between the two countries. The reason for building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was to avoid Ukraine and the transit of Russian gas through its territory. This is now postponed indefinitely.
The European Union covers about 40 percent of its annual natural gas consumption with imports from Russia. Russia’s recognition of the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas and the subsequent invasion of their territory by the Russian army adds to fears that gas supplies to Europe will now be at a standstill.
