The "Nord Stream 2" Project: A Problem in US Policy toward the European Region

In early March 2021, the US Department of State released the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance to convey President Joe Biden's vision for how the US will engage with the world and provide unified guidance for action to US departments, agencies, and bureaus. According to this Guidance, US foreign policy will give the highest priority to the Asia-Pacific region, followed by Europe, and then other regions. The issue of the “Nord Stream 2” Project is one of the four key focal points (1) mentioned by the US in its foreign policy toward the European region.

"Nord Stream 2" and the European Perspective

The “Nord Stream 2” Project (2) is an offshore natural gas pipeline project running from the city of Vyborg (Russia) to the city of Greifswald (Germany) along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, including the onshore gas supply lines in Russia and its further connection to the Western European system. The offshore pipeline system will be installed and operated by Nord Stream AG - a joint venture with the Gazprom Group (Russia), the BASF multinational chemical group (Germany), EON Group, and N. V. Nederlandse Gasunie Group (Germany, Netherlands). Additionally, other major energy corporations are involved in this project, such as Uniper, Wintershall (Germany), OMV (Austria), Shell (UK, Netherlands), and Engie (France). With an estimated value of 9.5 billion euros and a transport capacity of 55 billion m³/year, the project is currently in its final phase in German territory, and on March 26, 2018, Germany issued the complete set of permits for the project's construction within its territory.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine and concurrent Ambassador to Moldova.