Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
Republicans put pressure on
Nord Stream 2: US sanctions not off the table
In July, US President Biden and Chancellor Merkel agree on a compromise in the dispute over Nord Stream 2. German companies therefore have no sanctions to fear. But there is bitter resistance in the US Senate. The Republicans want to push through sanctions with a change in the law.
Republicans in the US Senate want to force US President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 even after the completion of the Baltic Sea pipeline. The Republicans in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress Chamber presented the draft of a corresponding amendment to the law on Monday (local time), which is to become part of the 2022 Defense Budget (NDAA) package.
It stipulates that the president will be deprived of the right to issue exceptions to sanctions for reasons of national security. The relevant passage in the sanction laws against Nord Stream 2 should be deleted according to the draft. The US House of Representatives had already included a corresponding change in the law in the draft for the defense budget in September.
In May, Biden had special permits (“Presidential Waiver”), with which Nord Stream 2 AG, based in Switzerland, and its German managing director were spared US sanctions. The highest-ranking Republican Senator in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Jim Risch, accused the Biden government on Monday of sparing Russia and thereby ignoring “the bipartisan will of Congress”. The senator accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of misusing energy as a weapon.
Russia completed the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 in September. But no gas is yet flowing through the pipe from Russia to Germany. Ukraine is bypassed by the pipeline. There is bitter opposition to Nord Stream 2 in the US Congress from both Republicans and Biden’s Democrats. The Democrats currently control both chambers in Congress, but only with wafer-thin majorities.
In the year-long dispute over the project, the federal government and the Biden government announced a breakthrough in July. They issued a joint statement pledging support to Ukraine. The USA had massively criticized Nord Stream for two years. Biden then admitted that the US would no longer be able to prevent the pipeline.