Nord Stream “most controversial” EU energy security issue – Munich Security Conference chairman Ischinger

The planned Russian-German natural gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 is currently the “most controversial and difficult question of EU energy security”, said Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), at the German energy industry conference BDEW Congress in Berlin. Ischinger supported foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel’s criticism that US Senate plans to further tighten economic sanctions on Russia could threaten Europe’s energy security. “But don’t think for one second that we will have the support from our Polish, Baltic or other partners on this issue,” said Ischinger. If the EU wanted a common foreign policy “which deserves that name and will be respected by Washington, Moscow and Beijing”, it needed a “credible common energy policy”, said Ischinger. Otherwise, it would be easy for other powers to “plant discord” within the EU.

See the CLEW dossier The Energiewende's implications for international security for background.