In recent weeks the US has stepped up its campaign against the Nord Stream 2 project. Washington
is putting pressure on Berlin to withdraw its support for the project, and is threatening
to use increasingly powerful measures, including sanctions on European companies involved
in the gas pipeline’s implementation. The growing dispute between the US and Germany over
Nord Stream 2 has become an element of the broader controversy surrounding the project in
the EU and is leading to deeper divisions between the member states. It has brought to the
fore the differences in approaches to gas cooperation with Russia as well as approaches to
the development of Russia’s strategic gas pipeline projects. While Germany, but also Austria,
the Netherlands and a number of other countries, limit their approach to commercial issues,
Poland, the Baltic States, Denmark and the US also see it as having security implications which
do not only relate to energy. The conflict over Nord Stream 2 is also part of the game concerning
the future shape of the gas market in Europe, and the roles played by individual external
suppliers (mainly Russia, but also to an increasing extent the US) and companies such as Gazprom
and its European partners. The Nord Stream 2 case has become a major challenge of the
EU’s cohesion and its relations with the US and Russia.
Gameplay on Nord Stream 2 brings short term political benefits to Russia. The project has not
only caused a rift between the EU member states, it has also become a source of increased
friction in transatlantic relations. The actions taken by Washington and Berlin with regard to
Nord Stream 2 will have the greatest impact on its future. Although Berlin has changed its
rhetoric and Chancellor Merkel has acknowledged that project has a political dimension in
addition to the commercial one, Germany is unwavering in its support for NS2, trying to limit
its negative consequences to problems regarding Ukrainian transit. Thus Berlin does not refer
to the strategic concerns of the Central European and Scandinavian countries, the European
Commission (EC) and the US which are not related directly to Ukraine
