The presidents of Lithuania and Poland share a negative opinion on the Russian and German plans of building a Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, The Baltic Course informed on February 19, 2018.
«We share a position on Nord Stream 2 – it is a geopolitical project with no economic justification, which makes the main big European countries 80 % dependent on supplies from one country, i.e. Russian gas,» Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said after meeting her Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, on Saturday.
In her opinion, the experiences of Lithuania and Poland in the gas market show that a single supplier was not a good option. «It is a bad thing, as the experience of both countries, Lithuania and Poland, shows that it becomes a geopolitical instrument, it is not an economic instrument and it is an instrument that can make political influence in individual countries and make pressure, therefore, both countries say that the dependence is not useful and even threatening to geopolitical stability in our countries», she said.
In her words, Lithuania and Poland have no possibilities of directly stopping the development of the gas pipeline.
Duda, in his turn, told journalists he was astonished by Western Europe's aspiration to be dependent on Russian gas supplies. «I can only state my astonishment that the EU, I mean its part in the West, want to be dependent on Gazprom. This astonishes me,» said Duda.
Lithuania believes that the gas pipeline under development by Gazprom and a few other European companies would make Europe more dependent on Russian gas, thus delivering a blow to Ukraine as a transit country. Meanwhile, Nord Stream 2 developers want the pipeline to be laid on the bottom of the Baltic Sea and cross Denmark's territorial waters before reaching Germany.
