Rebecca Harms, Greens/EFA Member of the European Parliament, comments the German and Austrian governments' reactions to the US Senate's decision on new sanctions against Russia. Rebecca Harms will participate in today's Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Affairs Council, where she will address the ministers in her role as Co-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.
"The responses of the German and Austrian governments to the US Senate’s decision are totally misguided. There can be no German-Austrian pact against the Senate’s efforts to reaffirm the reliability of the United States' policy towards Russia. The vote of the Senate is an act of containment towards President Trump on this issue. His reliability has to be in serious question, especially after the last NATO summit.
It would be deeply divisive for two governments to put the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has been controversial for a number of reasons, above our common European security interests. The question of whether an expansion of Gazprom's position in the EU market is responsible cannot be decided solely in Berlin. Both Chancellor Kern and, surprisingly, Angela Merkel are behaving in a way that is counter to Europe’s common security policy and will cause real concern in the EU's northern and eastern countries, especially in Ukraine."
