The European Parliament doesn't consider Russia to be a strategic partner anymore and insists that the Nord Stream 2 be canceled reads the report adopted at the Strasbourg summit. At the same time, the Parliament hopes that Moscow won't leave the Council of Europe. It's worth mentioning that the calls of the European Parliament have no legal power. Only the European Commission is authorized to decide whether to build the pipeline or not.
Our European correspondent, Anastasia Popova, will share the details. She's with us live.
- Greetings, Anastasia. What made Europe renounce its strategic partnership with Russia and why does the European Parliament insist on canceling Nord Stream 2?
- Greetings. First of all, we should know who initiated all those initiatives at the Strasbourg summit of the EP today. Those were two MPs from Latvia who're famous for their Russophobic statements. In particular, the discussion was basically structured around accusing Russia of violation of human rights, aggressive behavior towards Ukraine, and the "annexation" of Crimea, as they call it here. A long list of complaints was presented to Russia today. Some of those complaints concern the upcoming European Parliament elections. Europe is concerned that Russia's going to oppose the mainstream course, is preparing to sabotage the elections, and is already preparing to interfere with them.
That's why possible instruments for containing Russia were also discussed. Naturally, no credible documents were presented; all allegations are baseless. There's a certain group of MPs in the European Parliament who're famous for such statements. Today was their time to shine. The resolution was indeed adopted. It includes a call for renunciation of the strategic partnership with Russia. I'd like to remind you that the document on strategic partnership was adopted back in 1998. The negotiations to revise the document, based on the new economic reality, were initiated by Russia in 2008, due to the fact that the relations had shifted long ago and new relations guidelines were required. The negotiations were postponed four times. First, the reason was the meat controversy, when Russia banned the import of infected meat. Back then, the negotiations were suspended.
Then, there was the peacekeeping operation in Georgia after which they were suspended again. Then, Ukraine in 2014. The MPs demonize Russia, believing that they need to adopt a new, harsher sanctions mechanism. It will be an instrument for containing Russia's influence in Europe. Naturally, demands are made. It was stressed that there's a possibility for cooperation, that cooperation is necessary, and that Europe is open for dialogue. But first, Russia must meet certain requirements such as respecting the Minsk Agreements (the European Parliament ignores the fact that Kiev is the one that's violating them) and respecting human rights, which is a broad and obscure demand that can be applied to virtually anything.
Speaking of Nord Stream 2, there is indeed a campaign aimed to contain Russia in the energy sector. However, Europe is not united on that matter. Even though the EP adopted a resolution today, that resolution is non-binding and has no legal power. The provisions of the resolution need to be first verified by the European Commission. After that, it will take 20 days to translate the resolution into every EU language. Finally, the governments of the EU states will need to document the provisions adopted by the European Commission. The whole process might drag on into the next year.
Right now, the European Parliament and the European Commission are making every effort to decrease the time required for those provisions to be implemented in order to adopt them before the end of the year. The forced adoption of those documents is supposed to disrupt the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project. According to the schedule, the pipeline that goes directly from Russia to Germany will be finished and put into operation by the end of 2019. That's why they're in a hurry. All of the paperwork required for the pipeline is almost ready. Denmark is the only country that still hasn't issued a permit but that's a matter of technical details. According to our sources in the European Commission, there's nothing to pick at and the permit is likely to be issued since the pipeline will run through Denmark’s economic zone but not through its territorial waters. This little detail is the catch.
Right now, the paperwork is almost ready but the European Parliament is still trying to interfere with the project, adopting such resolutions whose purposes are to create a controversy rather than actually change anything. Besides, if we assess the figures of the amount of trade between Russia and the EU it's been rapidly growing since 2017. The economic indicators speak for themselves.
- Thank you. The information about the report that, among other things, included a call to give up the Nord Stream 2 project was shared by our European correspondent, Anastasia Popova.
I'd like to remind you that the adopted document has no legal power. Only the European Commission has the authority to make decisions regarding the pipeline.
