EU report slams Nord Stream

The Russian-German Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea should be accepted by all states bordering the sea before it is constructed, according to a report adopted by the European Parliament Committee on Petitions last week. The report was drawn up by the chairman of the commission, Marcin Libicki, a Polish MEP from the Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The committee's report has gone to the European Parliament (EP) who will vote on it in July. Even if it is approved by the parliament, the report's findings will not be binding.

The report calls on the Council of the European Union and the European Commission to use "all the means available" to prevent the construction of the pipeline, since it threatens the ecology of the Baltic Sea. It also stresses overland construction as a preferred alternative for the pipeline.

The Nord Stream plan, signed in 2006 by Russian and Germany, has raised considerable controversy. The European Commission considers the €7.4 (zł.25) billion gas pipeline a strategic project that will help diversify Europe's energy resources and increase its energy security.

But opponents fear that the pipeline, whose route deliberately avoids their territories, will give Russia a new tool to exert political and economic influence.