Why Trump attacks Merkel on Russian gas

"Germany is completely controlled by Russia (…), she is a prisoner of Russia ". The least we can say is that Donald Trump did not choose a very diplomatic language to cross swords with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "It pays billions of dollars to Russia for its energy supplies and we have to pay to protect it against Russia. How to explain this? It is not fair " pleaded again the American president at the opening of the NATO summit, Wednesday, July 11.

This time, the anger of Donald Trump aimed at a precise target: the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which is expected to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Russia to Germany, pbading under the Baltic Sea. Its cost: 9.5 billion euros

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• Russian gas in the dock

M. Trump is not the first to be moved by this project. His predecessor Barack Obama was already worried about the doubling of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, believing that he was likely to increase European dependence on Russian gas. Germans now import more than 50% of their gas from Russia (against 35% on average for European countries and 25% in France). It must be said that Russian gas is cheap and that Germany is the biggest gas importer in Europe, even if it represents only one fifth of its energy mix.

The US administration asks the Germans of coherence: how can they both defend a hard line against Russia since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and at the same time accept such an agreement with Gazprom, the armed arm of Russian power?

Above all, this new 1,200-kilometer-long pipe makes it possible to bypbad Ukraine, a historical path for the export of Russian gas during the Soviet era. Since the revolution of Maidan in 2014 and the war in the East, Moscow does not hide its willingness to deprive Kiev of revenue from the right of transit of gas on its territory.

• American ambitions in question

But it does not This is not really for Mr. Trump an exercise of solidarity with Ukraine. He first wants to promote an alternative: the import of American gas by boats. With the explosion of shale gas production, the United States has in recent years gone from gas importer to exporter. This, thanks to the liquefaction of natural gas, which allows, after cooling, to ensure the transport by LNG.

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The country is left with a gas production of the country, which has increased by almost 50% in ten years, is now well above national needs. And he is looking for outlets to sell his hydrocarbons. "The Americans hope to export their gas to Europe, this is the real reason for their attitude" recently confided a French boss of the sector. The US Senate voted in 2017 a text providing for sanctions against the companies partners of the pipeline and mentioning very explicitly the necessary export of resources. The Kremlin also estimated Thursday that these American attacks were the "unfair competition" .

This US offensive comes as the countries of the European Union are deeply divided on the issue . While Germany and Austria actively defend Nord Stream 2, Poland and the Baltic countries have for years been carrying out an intense procedural and media campaign against the project, denouncing the risks of Russian control in the region. Denmark, whose territorial waters will be crossed by the gas pipeline, has been discussing for months a law that could prohibit this pbadage. The Nord Stream 2 consortium ensures an alternative route

The European Commission is also disunited. His Vice-President, the Slovakian Maros Sefcovic, and the President of the European Council, the Polish Donald Tusk, reiterated their opposition to the project But energy policy is largely a Member State responsibility. France supports the project, "but it was not very going on the subject" deplores a French supporter of the gas pipeline

• The concerns of the gas groups

This gas pipeline will be integrally built by Gazprom but five European partners will finance half of this project to 9.5 billion euros: the French Engie, the Anglo-Dutch Shell, the Austrian OMV and German Uniper and Wintershall (subsidiary of BASF). [19659012] Read also:
        
    
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But concerns are growing among the European partners of the project, who fear the introduction of US sanctions against them. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the US State Department reiterated that "companies that worked in the Russian energy export sector via a gas pipeline engaged in a type of activity where there is a risk of sanctions ". The US Congress has already voted the possibility of these sanctions, and it is only up to Donald Trump to know what forms they could take, if they were to come into existence.

Engie, we say for months very vigilant on this file. "We want to do this project explained a senior group leader a few weeks ago. But if the Americans put real sanctions in place, we will not be able to continue. "