BERLIN (Sputnik) — Only private interests are involved in the project on the German side, she added, stressing that this implies that the project must thus follow regulations applicable to the private sector.
"We consider this a business project which our private companies are taking part in, it must be given the necessary approvals, it must comply with European law," Merkel said at a press conference after meeting Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in Stockholm.
Russia is engaged in constructing Nord Stream 2 alongside several European companies. The pipeline aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas a year to the European Union across the Baltic Sea to Germany, bypassing Ukraine. The launch of the pipeline is planned for 2018. The project's German partners are E.ON, BASF and Wintershall.
In August, the partners withdrew a joint venture request in Poland, a month after Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) objected to its establishment. Germany has approved the creation of the joint venture.
