Andrzej Duda said in Brussels ahead of a NATO summit that diversified supplies were “now one of the most important goals for the European Union in the energy sector,” public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
His comments came after US President Donald Trump earlier in the day accused Germany of making a massive gas deal with Russia instead of spending more money on defence as part of NATO, the IAR news agency said.
Meeting reporters before the NATO summit on Wednesday, Trump hit out at Germany for supporting the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia across the Baltic Sea, despite opposition from some other European countries, including Poland.
Trump said: “Germany is totally controlled by Russia because they will be getting 60 to 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline.”
He also said it was “very inappropriate” that the United States was paying for European defence against Russia while Germany was making gas deals with Moscow, the Reuters news agency reported.
“We’re protecting Germany, we’re protecting France, we’re protecting all of these countries. And then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they’re paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia,” Trump said, as quoted by Reuters.
Trump also criticised former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s role in businesses controlled by Russian gas giant Gazprom, which is responsible for gas supplies from Russia to Germany, the IAR news agency reported.
According to Polish-based news website onet.pl, Schröder, who left the post of chancellor in 2005, has been strongly involved in lobbying for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas link, a project opposed by countries including Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states.
In September last year, Schröder took over as chairman of the board of directors of Russian oil giant Rosneft, and he also heads the shareholders' committee of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 companies, according to a March report by onet.pl.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in May that Nord Stream 2 was “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the European Union and NATO.
The 1,200-kilometre Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is scheduled for completion in 2019, is expected to supply around 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, circumventing Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine.
Polish state-run gas company PGNiG last month said it had signed a long-term agreement with two American companies for the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States amid efforts to make Poland independent of Russian supplies.
PGNiG in November signed a five-year deal for the supply of nine shipments of US LNG from the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal in Louisiana.
Poland’s gas grid operator Gaz-System in June selected its preferred route for the Baltic Pipe, a planned new link to Norway via Denmark that is expected to supply Poland with up to 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually.
Poland aims to stop importing natural gas from Russia after 2022, according to officials.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, Reuters