OREANDA-NEWS. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg on Monday, December 13, called on the Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU states to put the controversial Nord Stream – 2 gas pipeline into operation as soon as possible. The project has been completed and «now it needs to be used», Schallenberg stressed. Thus, he objected to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who also participated in a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels.

Schallenberg stressed that he considers it wrong to question the use of the pipeline every time the EU has discussions with Moscow. Austria, like Germany, receives natural gas from Russia.

A day earlier, Baerbock said on the air of the ZDF TV channel that he did not yet see any grounds for putting the Nord Stream – 2 into operation. «The gas pipeline does not yet comply with the norms of European energy legislation», she explained. Baerbock added that in case of further escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, «this pipeline can no longer be connected to the network» and that such a decision has already been agreed by the former German government with the US Congress.

Speaking about the conflict over Ukraine, Baerbock noted that recognition of Ukraine's sovereignty remains the basis for all EU actions and for all negotiations with Russia. According to her, the member countries of the Group of Seven (G7) are ready to try to return to the «Normandy» format of negotiations with Russia.

In the summer of 2021, the US and German authorities in a joint statement warned Moscow against «using energy resources as a weapon or committing further aggressive actions against Ukraine». Otherwise, Germany will «act at the national level and at the level of the European Union and seek effective measures, including sanctions, in order to limit Russia's ability to export to the European energy sector, including gas exports», the statement said.