How German Bureaucracy, Not Scholz, Could Hobble Nord Stream 2
- Chancellor resists U.S. calls to halt pipeline over Ukraine
- Certification process will not end before June, officials say
A pipeline route map near the Nord Stream 2 gas receiving station in Lubmin, Germany.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, under pressure from the U.S. to halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project over Russian aggression toward Ukraine, may quietly delegate the task to the country’s bureaucracy.
Before gas can flow through the pipeline at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, Germany’s regulator and the EU Commission, two institutions not known for their speed, have to give the green light. Certification from Germany’s Bundesnetzagentur, or Federal Network Agency, must undergo EU scrutiny before a final sign off by Germany -- a back-and-forth that could take six to eight months.