The Nord Stream 2 Project and the Interests of Germany, Russia, the European Union and the United States

Introduction: Energy security is a high priority for Germany as an industrialized country and any disruption in this issue will severely damage the country's economic strength and security. Russia's conflicts with Eastern European states, the European Union and NATO since the collapse of the Soviet Union have made it clear to Germany that energy security is fragile given the high potential for conflict between the two sides. Therefore, in response to the concern that in case of any disruption in the transmission of Russian natural gas by the countries of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland to the countries of the European Union, how to supply the energy needed by the members of this union caused the German government to sign the Nord Stream 2 project with Russia despite serious opposition of some members of the European Union and the United States. This project is supposed to transfer Russian gas through the Baltic Sea from the port city of Ust-Luga to the port city of Greifswald in Germany through two pipelines for a distance of more than 1200 km. The capacity of these pipelines is about 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. This pipeline, along with the Nord Stream 1 pipeline alone, can supply 110 billion cubic meters of gas needed by Europe, which constitutes a large part of Europe's gas imports from Russia. The Nord Stream 2 project, which was halted and ultimately sanctioned due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was supposed to transport Russian gas directly to Germany without any intermediaries but due to the impact it could have on the security and interests of some members of the European Union and the United States, it caused us to see conflicts of interest between some European Union countries with Germany and Russia, Germany and the United States, and between Russia and the United States.
Research Question: What is the reason for the support of Germany and Russia, as well as the opposition of some members of the European Union and the United States to the Nord Stream 2 project?
Research Hypothesis: The research hypothesis is based on the different effects that the Nord Stream 2 project can have on the interests and security of Germany, Russia, some members of the European Union and the United States which has caused the support of Germany, Russia and also the opposition of some members of the European Union and the United States to the Nord Stream 2 project.
Theoretical Framework and Research Method: To answer the research question and test the hypothesis, the authors have used the qualitative method of multiple case studies to analyze the impact of the Nord Stream 2 project on the national security and interests of Germany, Russia, the United States and some members of the European Union. The data collection was also done in a library method and documents were collected as one of the methods of information collection and they were monitored using multiple case studies. In this way, at first the data was collected by referring to the sources related to the topic using note-taking tools and then the collected data was analyzed with a descriptive-analytical approach in the conceptual framework of Neo-realism theory and in this way, it has been tried to test the research hypothesis and answer the research question.
Results and Discussion: The results obtained from this article indicate that ensuring Germany's energy security in light of Russia's conflicts with the countries of the Eastern European region, the European Union and NATO, promoting Germany's centrality in the field of energy and converting it into a political and economic center of energy in the European Union, Stabilizing Germany's position and political and economic influence in Russia and eliminating fluctuations in the final gas transit price is one of the main reasons for Germany's support for this project. Diversification of energy transfer policy from Russia to Europe due to the high capacity of non-transit energy transfer from third countries to Germany, gain enormous revenues from gas exports in light of Russia's dependence on oil and gas revenues and the Provide Russia with a powerful tool to counter the anti-Russian policies of Eastern European countries, as well as the United States and Western institutions are the main reasons of Russian’s support for the Nord Stream 2project.
On the other hand, the European Union's greater dependence on Russian energy, concern about Russia's instrumental use of this project, deprivation of income from gas transit, ignoring the essential role of Poland and Ukraine in transferring Russian gas to Europe and removing their leverage over Russia, the impact of this project on the US sanctions and goals against Russia and the economic interests of this country in the European energy market is the main reason why some members of the European Union, especially Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the United States, oppose the Nord Stream 2 project.
Conclusion: In this article, using the propositions of the neorealist approach, we examined the interests of Germany, Russia, the European Union, and the United States in relation to the Nord Stream 2 project and the reasons for their support and opposition to this project. According to Neo-realist statements, due to the anarchic structure of the international system, governments seek to increase their power in various ways to achieve their national interests. At the top of national interests is survival and security and any strategy that can achieve this in the best way will be the priority of countries' foreign policy. Therefore, according to the results of this article, countries such as Germany, Russia, some members of the European Union and the United States have a realistic view of the Nord Stream 2 project and considering the effects that this project can have on the security and national interests of these countries, Germany and Russia have supported this project and some members of the European Union and the United States have opposed it.