Donald Tusk, the leader of Poland’s largest opposition party, has criticised the Nord Stream project bringing gas from Russian to Germany. Construction of the second set of pipelines, Nord Stream 2, was completed today. Poland’s government has also strongly opposed the project.
“I believe that it is against the interests of the EU as a whole, not to mention Poland and Ukraine,” said Tusk, speaking to Polish broadcaster TVN24. “I have said many times, this is an unforgivable mistake – because it has very serious consequences – a mistake resulting from selfish German interests.”
Tusk, who served as president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019, claimed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel “very often in face-to-face conversations said that [Nord Stream] is very bad for the EU, that it was not her who made the original decision, but that it was at a stage that it could not be withdrawn”.
The original Nord Stream project was approved by Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, shortly before he left office. But construction took place during her time in power, and she appeared at the opening of the first pipeline in 2011. Development of the second set of Nord Stream pipelines has taken place entirely under her chancellorship.
Poland has been among the strongest critics of Nord Stream, which it argues gives Russia greater leverage over Central and Eastern European countries, which are bypassed by the pipelines.
The current Polish government, led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, has been particularly vociferous in its condemnation of the project. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Berlin of supporting the project “behind the EU’s back”.
The foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, criticised the Biden administration for lifting sanctions on Nord Stream 2, accusing it of falling into the same “Russian trap” as Germany. He said that the pipeline “constitutes a direct threat to peace in Europe”, in particular for Ukraine and Poland.
In April, Tusk tweeted that, “if you really want to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine, you have to stop Nord Stream 2”. In 2017, while president of the European Council, he said that Nord Stream 2 “is not in the interests of Europe” and “leaves Ukraine at the mercy of Russia”.
Today, Russian energy giant Gazprom, which is responsible for the Nord Stream project, announced that construction on Nord Stream 2 has been fully completed. The firm hopes to start gas flows next month, according to insiders speaking to Bloomberg, though the timing will depend on the German regulator.
Main image credit: European Council President/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
