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The announcement by the United States of economic sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline linking Russia directly to Germany has provoked negative reactions in Germany and Europe. Washington has always criticized the project that would contribute to Europe's energy dependence on Russia.
With our correspondent in Berlin, Guillaume Thibault
" European energy policy is decided in Europe and not in the United States. We reject external interventions and sanctions ". On Twitter, the German Social Democrat Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, responded in a non-diplomatic way to the announcement of economic sanctions by the United States.
In the Ministry of Economy held by the Christian Democrats, these sanctions are also rejected. Parliamentarians have also been clear: " We are not a protectorate of the United States, " says a Social Democratic official; a conservative evokes " a hostile act ".
The alarmed economic circles
Economic circles are also alarmed. The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry even calls on European partners to take counter-sanctions. The commission in charge of these dossiers within industrial circles regrets " a negative signal for transatlantic relations " and recalls that the gas pipeline project complies with European law.
If the press denounces the sanctions advocated by the United States, some also recall that Berlin has for too long seen only in this project a private investment neglecting its political impact. Both the conservative daily Die Welt and the center-left newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung believe that the gas pipeline that has to link Germany directly to Russia has at the same time divided Europe.