A Moratorium on Nord Stream 2
Appeal to the Federal Government and to the Democratic Parties in Germany
Dear Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are reaching out to you to urge that you declare an immediate moratorium on the natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2. There are many reasons for this step. Nord Stream 2
- undermines European cohesion and transatlantic relations;
- conflicts with the new European and German climate goals;
- threatens the already precarious security of Ukraine and
- runs counter to the aim of a common EU external energy policy.
The Nord Stream 2 project was controversial right from the start. The agreements were signed shortly after the annexation of Crimea and the Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine.
The undeclared war against Ukraine continues, while the crackdown on democratic civil society in Russia grows ever more oppressive. There has also been a whole series of attacks on the liberal democracies of the West. The hopes for “Wandel durch Handel” (change through trade) have not been realised.
Nord Stream 2 is also out of step with current climate policy. The biggest fossil-fuel infrastructure project in Europe, it is intended to lock in the import of natural gas from the Arctic regions of Russia for decades to come. Yet if it is to meet its climate goals, the EU must start reducing natural gas consumption during the present decade.
Nord Stream 2 is not necessary for the energy security of Germany or of the EU. The capacities of existing continental pipelines are sufficient to meet future needs. The new pipeline is primarily a geopolitical project aimed at cutting Ukraine and Poland out of gas transit equation. This is not an aim that the Federal Government should endorse.
Moreover, Nord Stream 2 is completely at odds with the EU’s declared aim of diversifying the European natural gas supply and breaking up monopolistic structures.
This project is fomenting discord and distrust within the European Community at a time when the ability to take collective action is crucial. Last but not least, Nord Stream 2 is an obstacle to a “fresh start” in transatlantic relations, which is well overdue.
For these reasons, we call upon the Federal Government to immediately impose a moratorium on Nord Stream 2 to allow for serious political dialogue. After putting Nord Stream 2 on hold, the American sanctions ought to be suspended.
Specifically, a moratorium should be used to
- clarify the strategic implications of Nord Stream 2 – particularly with respect to the security of Ukraine and of the EU’s eastern member states;
- undertake a detailed life cycle assessment of the project and have its climate impacts examined by an independent body;
- push forward with a common European energy policy;
- resolve the transatlantic differences relating to Nord Stream 2 and
- discuss principal issues of controversy between the EU and the Kremlin and reassess Nord Stream 2 in that light of this discussion.
A moratorium for Nord Stream 2 offers a way out of a muddled political situation. It represents a chance to arrive at a common European position. Lastly, and importantly, a moratorium would serve as a clear signal to the Russian leadership that they must expect consequences to ensue from their continuing violations of international law and of the rules upon which the European order is based.
Please do not to let this chance slip away.
Signatories
Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Juri Andruchowytsch, Writer, Ukraine
Natalia Arno, Free Russia Foundation, USA
Timothy Garton Ash, Professor at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Anders Åslund, Atlantic Council, Sweden
Audronius Ažubalis, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Rainer Baake, Climate Neutrality Foundation, Germany
Rudi Bachmann, University of Notre Dame, Germany
Margarita M. Balmaceda, Professor at the Seton Hall University, USA
Marieluise Beck, Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Germany
James D. Bindenagel, Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, USA
Marianne Birthler, Former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, Germany
Jerzy Buzek, Former Prime Minister, Member of the European Parliament, Poland
Emily Channell-Justice, Harvard University, USA
Sławomir Dębski, The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), Poland
Larry Diamond, Stanford University, USA
Peter B. Doran, Former President of the Center for European Policy Analysis, USA
Bas Eickhout, Member of the European Parliament, Netherlands
Michael Emerson, Centre for European Policy Studies; Former EU Ambassador to Russia, Belgium
Mateusz Fałkowski, Pilecki Institute, Poland
Pavel Fischer, Senator, Czech Republic
Roland Freudenstein, Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, Germany
Ralf Fücks, Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Germany
Francis Fukuyama, Professor at the Stanford University, USA
Anthony Giddens, King’s College Cambridge, United Kingdom
Sven Giegold, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
Hanna Gill-Piątek, Member of Parliament, Poland
Paul Grod, Ukrainian World Congress, Canada
Rebecca Harms, Former Member of the European Parliament, Germany
Pavel Havlicek, Association for International Affairs, Czech Republic
Paulina Hennig-Kloska, Member of Parliament, Poland
John Herbst, Atlantic Council; former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, USA
Ben Hodges, Former Commanding General U.S. Army Europe, USA
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Former President, Estonia
Jakub Janda, European Values Center for Security Policy, Czech Republic
Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Jonathan Katz, German Marshall Fund, USA
James Kirchick, Brookings Institution, USA
Jakub Klepal, Forum 2000, Czech Republic
Pavlo Klimkin, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine
Petr Kolář, Former ambassador of the Czech Republic to the USA and Russia, Czech Republic
John Kornblum, Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, USA
Marcin Korolec, Former Minister of Environment, President of COP19, Poland
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, Historian, Germany
Zdzisław Krasnodębski, Member of the European Parliament, Poland
Peter Kreko, Political Capital Institute, Hungary
Sergey Lagodinsky, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Friedrich Naumann Foundation; Former Federal Minister of Justice, Germany
Miriam Lexmann, Member of the European Parliament, Slovakia
John Lough, Chatham House, United Kingdom
Edward Lucas, Center for European Policy Analysis, United Kingdom
Arminas Lydeka, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Michael McFaul, FSI Institute for International Studies; Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, USA
Markus Meckel, Former Foreign Minister of the GDR, Germany
James D. Melville Jr., Former U.S. Ambassador to Estonia, USA
Marie Mendras, Sciences Po, France
Vladimir Milov, Former Deputy Minister of Energy, Russian Federation
Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), Germany
Jutta Paulus, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
Žygimantas Pavilionis, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Tomasz Peszyński, Pulse of Europe, Czech Republic
Steven Pifer, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, USA
Ruprecht Polenz, German Association for East European Studies (DGO), Former Member of Parliament, Germany
Jana Puglierin, European Council on Foreign Relations, Germany
Janusz Reiter, Former Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Germany and the USA, Poland
Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Former Foreign Minister, Poland
Manfred Sapper, Journal “Osteuropa” (Eastern Europe), Germany
András Simonyi, Former Hungarian Ambassador to the USA, Hungary
Karl Schlögel, Eastern European historian and publicist, Germany
Benjamin L. Schmitt, Harvard University, USA
Constanze Stelzenmüller, The Brookings Institution, Germany
Mirosław Suchoń, Member of Parliament, Poland
Paul J. Sullivan, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Giedrius Surplys, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Oleksandr Sushko, International Renaissance Foundation, Ukraine
Nicolas Tenzer, CERAP – France; Guest professor at the Sciences Po, France
Ellen Ueberschär, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany
Andreas Umland, Ukrainian Institute for the Future (Kyiv), Germany
Tom van der Lee, Member of Parliament, Netherlands
Kurt-Christoph von Knobelsdorff, Berlin, Germany
Alexander Vershbow, Former Deputy Secretary General of NATO; Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, USA
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Former President, Latvia
Kenneth R. Weinstein, Hudson Institute, USA
Heinrich August Winkler, Historian, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Marie L. Yovanovitch, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, USA
Jan Zielonka, Professor at the University of Oxford and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Netherlands
Emanuelis Zingeris, Member of Parliament, Lithuania