No pipeline without Poland

Plans for the Baltic Sea pipeline, which would bypass the Eastern European states,  have added to fears that Berlin and Moscow might put their own interests ahead of those of their less powerful neighbors, jeopardizing energy security in countries once part of the Soviet empire.

However, Germany's President Horst Koehler said Poland should be consulted, during an official visit to Warsaw last week. "I believe that Poland and the Baltic states should be included in this process," Koehler said.

"We should hold talks on this issue with the participation of these countries. This is a necessary step," Koehler added.

The main gas line between Germany and Russia is the Yamal pipeline running partly through Poland. It will hit its capacity of 34 billion cubic meters per year in early 2006.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has worked hard to build Berlin's ties with Moscow, raising concern in Poland and the Baltic states, which have had cool relations with the Kremlin since joining NATO and the EU.

Schroeder's rival in next month's election, conservative Angela Merkel, recently sought to ease such fears, saying that any government she led would not forge a stronger Berlin-Moscow axis at the expense of smaller states caught in the middle.

Koehler hit a similar note, saying Poland's EU membership meant that its views and concerns would help shape the bloc's future common foreign policy towards Russia. "Today I can assure you that we will never talk about Poland without Poland," he said. (Reuters)