The new government in Berlin should change its attitude toward the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and “do everything possible” to prevent Russia from using it as a weapon against its neighbors, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
“Nord Stream 2 is becoming a tool to blackmail Ukraine and Moldova. It is also a tool for the manipulation of energy prices,” he told German news agency DPA in a Sunday interview.
“I would expect the new German government to do everything possible not to allow Nord Stream 2 to be an instrument in the arsenal of President Putin.”
The 1,200-kilometer pipeline from Russia to Germany has long been a politically hot issue, more so with Europe hit by sky-high energy prices.
Poland has been among the most vocal voices against Moscow’s energy practices. Last month, it demanded EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager initiate an investigation into Russia’s state-backed Gazprom, which owns the pipeline, for market manipulation and abuse of dominance on energy markets.
Morawiecki also defended his handling of the migration standoff on Poland’s border with Belarus, saying his country is defending the EU from another migration crisis.
The EU has accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of creating the border crisis by pushing Middle Eastern migrants toward the EU in retaliation for sanctions from Brussels. Poland, at the center of the crisis, has reacted by reinforcing its border.
“We cannot have an open-door policy,” Morawiecki said.
While the EU should help find a diplomatic solution to the border crisis, Morawiecki criticized outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel for holding talks with Lukashenko. “She contributed to legitimizing his regime, while the struggle for a free Belarus is going on for 15 months now,” he said.
