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Poland, Latvia united in opposition to Nord Stream 2: PM

19.01.2022 23:30
The Polish prime minister on Wednesday met with his visiting Latvian counterpart in Warsaw, and afterwards said that both countries spoke in one voice against the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
Audio
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (right) and Latvias Arturs Krijnis Kari (left) meet with reporters after their talks in Warsaw on Wednesday.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (right) and Latvia's Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (left) meet with reporters after their talks in Warsaw on Wednesday.PAP/Leszek Szymański

Mateusz Morawiecki made the statement at a joint news conference with Latvia's Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš, telling reporters that now was “a critical moment” for Nord Stream 2.

“The voice of Latvia, the voice of Poland, is loud and clear: This gas pipeline shouldn’t be added to the arsenal of blackmail measures available to the Russian president,” Morawiecki said.

“We call on our German partners to come to their senses, to realise what gigantic risks lurk if this blackmail tool is handed over to Moscow,” he added.

Nord Stream 2, designed to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline, is expected to send around 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea while bypassing the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.

Poland has strongly criticized the gas link amid concerns that the pipeline will make the European Union more dependent on Russian gas.

Morawiecki warned in 2020 that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would allow Russia to buy weapons with European money.

Morawiecki has previously called Nord Stream 2 “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the European Union and NATO.

'External forces'

Morawiecki told reporters on Wednesday he had briefed Latvia's Kariņš on Poland's stance on the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS).

He argued that energy prices in both Poland and Latvia were being shaped by “external forces ... on the one hand, by Russia and, on the other, by the irresponsible and dogmatic policy around the ETS, in other words, by the European Union’s climate policy."

He said that "the ETS system is subject to speculative purchases by various financial and non-financial investors."

“It’s a flaw; this shouldn’t be the case,” he added. “In such a situation, energy prices are dependent on market speculation, not on the regulatory or market forces which exist only in the energy market.”

“I hope our voice will be increasingly heard,” Morawiecki concluded.

Kremlin behind 'jumps in energy prices': Latvian PM

Latvia's Kariņš said that stoking an energy crisis was part of the Kremlin’s array of attacks against the West.

He added that Poland and Latvia were seeking “to support our households, our businesses, our industry sectors in the face of these jumps in energy prices.”

He also told reporters that Riga supported the EU’s green transition, but added that citizens shouldn’t shoulder its costs through energy prices.

“This transition should proceed in a direction that is possible for Latvia and Poland,” Kariņš stated, as cited by the PAP news agency.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP,  TVP Info

Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Agnieszka Bielawska.