A dispute over the Nord Stream 2 project has been largely dictated by the interests of Washington, Klaus Ernst, the head of the Bundestag Committee on Economics and Energy said on Tuesday.
"Obviously, Nord Stream 2 would be a cheaper alternative compared to the existing Ukrainian transit via the Ukrainian pipeline system. The US' interests play a major role in the existing conflict because it would like to supply large amounts of its liquefied gas to Europe," Ernst said at the international conference "Perspectives of Russia-EU Energy Cooperation: The Gas Aspect."
According to him, the US stance "fundamentally contradicts European and German interests."
"We know that the extraction of this gas is bad for the ecology, we know that in many aspects there is a more environmentally friendly gas from Siberia," Ernst said.
In this regard, he pointed out that the European Commission's proposal to extend the EU's internal energy market rules to control the gas pipeline "corresponds more to American, rather than European interests."
READ MORE: EU Energy Chief: German Participation Needed to Maintain Gas Transit Via Ukraine
According to the deputy, since the 1970s the US has "repeatedly tried to prevent the construction of gas pipelines from Russia to Europe."
He also stressed that reasonable economic cooperation between Russia and Germany would be in the interests of both countries.
Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russia's Gazprom with France's Engie, Austria's OMV AG, UK-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, and Germany's Uniper and Wintershall. It aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas annually to the European Union across the Baltic Sea to Germany.
The pipeline project has been welcomed by some countries in Europe and opposed by others, including Ukraine and Poland. The United States has also expressed its opposition to Nord Stream 2.
