Deputy State Assets Minister Janusz Kowalski told public broadcaster Polish Radio on Tuesday that German politicians “have many beautiful words on their lips about European unity and solidarity.”
Meanwhile, their country “is aiding Vladimir Putin in the construction of Nord Stream 2,” a project opposed by a number of EU members, he argued.
Kowalski also said that the Nord Stream 2 project has exposed a lack of unity within the bloc.
“This project adds up to one big accusation when it comes to the lack of unity within the European Union,” he added.
He was speaking after Poland’s antitrust authority announced a day earlier that it had imposed a fine of around EUR 50 million on Russian gas giant Gazprom for its lack of cooperation in proceedings involving the contested Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
“This is very good news,” Kowalski told public Polish Radio on Tuesday.
He added: “Nord Stream 2 has broken all business rules as well as the principles of healthy competition in the European Union. It has also breached the principle of energy solidarity at the EU level.”
‘This is paying with European money for weapons for Putin’
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last week that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline allows Russia to buy weapons with European money.
“In our opinion, this is paying with European money for weapons for Putin,” Morawiecki said during an online debate held by the Atlantic Council, a US think tank, as quoted by Poland’s niezalezna.pl website.
Morawiecki has previously called Nord Stream 2 “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the European Union and NATO.
The controversial 1,200-kilometre pipeline being built under the Baltic Sea is expected to have the capacity to send around 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year directly to Germany, while bypassing the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.
Poland has vehemently opposed the project, saying it will pose a threat to Europe’s energy security by doubling Russia’s gas export capacity via the Baltic Sea.
(gs/pk)
Source: polskieradio24.pl