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GRAMWhen it comes to the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Polish politicians are not holding back the criticism. Sometimes this seems exaggerated, for example, when looking for historical comparisons. “Poland is sensitive to brokers and deals over its head. That is the Locarno tradition. That is the tradition of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, “said Radoslaw Sikorski, then Polish Defense Minister, then Foreign Minister in Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s liberal-conservative government, at a 2006 Brussels summit, and thus it generated outrage in Berlin.
Warsaw has maintained this stance to this day: it is represented across party lines. This is all the more remarkable because in Poland the opposition and the government are irreconcilable on almost every issue, regardless of whether it concerns the so-called judicial reform or the climate policy. Obviously, the situation is different with the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline, which Warsaw politicians unanimously reject as a contradiction to Polish and European interests.
More recently, Robert Winnicki, head of the right-wing extremist Konfederacja (Confederation), even published a poster placing Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the tradition of the German-Soviet pact that preceded the German attack on Poland.
Winnicki announced a protest against Nord Stream 2 in front of the German embassy in Warsaw. Even the party, which constantly attacks the government and other opposition parties, defends extreme positions such as Poland’s exit from the EU and the introduction of the death penalty, has endorsed Nord Stream 2. The example shows how close that are the ranks in Poland about it.
The Poles are the biggest critics of the project
No one in the EU criticizes the German-Russian gas pipeline more strongly and rigorously than the Poles, and has done so since the construction of the first pipeline began in 2005. Polish politicians worry that Nord Stream 2 could make Europe possible. become more dependent on Russian gas and Putin could use the resource. use it as a means of political influence, bypassing Poland.
However, Warsaw has argued in vain against the pipeline so far, even if the ruling national conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has found a powerful partner in Donald Trump in the White House, who rages just as strongly against Nord. Stream 2, demands a construction freeze and implies sanctions against it. Companies threaten.
Has his own pipeline plans for Poland – Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
Quelle: alliance of images / AA
But now the mood could tilt in favor of Poland; Warsaw has never been closer to a construction freeze than today. After the poisoning of Russian opposition activist Alexej Navalny, German politicians are calling for an unusually strong exit from the joint German-Russian project or at least a suspension of the pipeline construction.
According to government spokesman Steffen Seibert, even Chancellor Merkel did not rule out that the Baltic Sea pipeline could be affected by sanctions against Russia. There would be great jubilation in Warsaw; In addition to more European energy security and less potential for Russian blackmail, there would be another reason for this that Polish officials rarely cite.
Poland is building its own gas pipeline, which will compete with the Nord Stream pipelines. If the German-Russian pipeline does not connect, Poland is in a better position because of that. The country could become something of an energy hub in Central and Eastern Europe. The Polish-Danish project called Baltic Pipe is intended to supply Poland in the west via Denmark directly with Norwegian natural gas.
Source: WORLD infographic
Poland would like to become completely independent of Russian gas supplies by 2022. On the Polish side, the leader was originally the energy giant PGNiG, the Polish oil and gas company, a billion dollar company largely unknown in Germany. Later, Gaz-System, a Polish state-controlled operating company, joined.
“Avoiding the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project would have an impact on the European gas market, it would contribute to a positive diversification of gas supply,” says Agata Loskot-Strachota, an expert on energy policy, in an interview with WELT. Loskot-Strachota specializes in Nord Stream projects at the Warsaw Center for Oriental Studies, a government-affiliated think tank. “There would certainly also be advantages for the Baltic Pipe project and the European north-south gas corridor,” Loskot-Strachota adds.
Baltic Pipe is central to Poland’s energy strategy, which aims not only to make the country independent from Russia, but also to make it a major player in the European energy market. If Nord Stream 2, the tubes of which would cross the Polish project, is buried, Warsaw would be one step closer to its ambitious efforts.
Top Polish politicians are now commenting on a possible end to Nord Stream 2 with a view to the strained German-Russian relationship. “In Poland, the rulers and the opposition have been very critical of Nord Stream 2 for years,” says WELT Tomasz Siemoniak, one of the main figures of the largest opposition party, the Civic Platform (PO) and until 2015 Minister of Defense and deputy prime minister.
Siemoniak emphasizes that he will continue the discussions in Germany. He says he is hearing more and more critical voices on the issue of Nord Stream 2 at the CDU. “It is worth discussing openly Europe’s needs and interests in the field of raw materials in the EU forum in order to find common solutions,” said the politician.
“Nordstream 2 puts the EU’s energy security at risk”
Pawel Jablonski, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister, is even clearer: “For us, Nord Stream 2 is anti-European,” he told WELT. The gas pipeline is a threat to energy security not only for Ukraine or Poland, but for the entire EU. “This gas pipeline is not economic in nature, but mainly political and military,” says Jablonski. “Because it could become a gas extortion tool against our neighbors,” the minister continued.
He sees the Navalny poisoning as the latest in a series of events that show Russia is not a reliable partner. “The involvement of EU businessmen in a project like Nord Stream 2 under current conditions and under the pretext of economic cooperation, while turning a blind eye to the totality of the Kremlin’s policies in recent years, is a great irresponsibility and myopia, “says Jablonski.
That is why Polish politicians are renewing their criticism of Nord Stream 2. It is a constant theme in German-Polish relations, and its importance has even increased over the years. “In particular, the Polish government could not understand the start of construction in 2015,” explains Loskot-Strachota. After all, it took place after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. “The timing was remarkably bad, as it contradicted the logic of the sanctions against Moscow,” says the expert.
There is high hope in Warsaw that Berlin will now take a different course and correct what was a mistake from the Polish point of view. It is about the energy security of an entire region, but also the success of a Polish competition project.
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