Serving on behalf of 25 million Canadians and Americans of Central and East European heritage, The Central and Eastern European Council in Canada and the U.S.-based Central and East European Coalition express serious concern regarding the Joint Statement of the United States and Germany on Support for Ukraine, European Energy Security, and Our Climate Goals, which addresses the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. If the pipeline is completed, the Russian Federation will use this coercive tool to advance its geopolitical goals and influence in Europe. The statement does not specify what action would be taken by Germany should the Kremlin weaponize its energy sector against Ukraine and the rest of Europe. We believe that this agreement with its ambiguous language and objectives is inadequate in addressing the threat posed by the Kremlin’s aggressive behaviour and violates our commitments from the Budapest Memorandum of 1994.
To demonstrate that the Biden and Trudeau administrations value the relationships with our European allies, their policies should clearly reflect their intent to jointly counter the hostile behaviour of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, the Joint Statement does little to address the threats that Nord Stream 2 poses to the energy security of Central and Eastern Europe. We assert that the relationships that Canada and the U.S. maintain with many of the countries in this region, whose diaspora communities our organizations represent, may be harmed because of this arrangement. In order to resolutely counter Russia’s belligerent influence in Europe, we urge the U.S. and Canada to work with our European allies to develop and adopt a concrete and comprehensive plan of response.
The language in the Joint Statement and its potential implications only intensify our trepidation. The Biden and Trudeau administrations must continue implementing sanctions and encourage our allies in Europe to enact similar measures, to prevent the finalization and use of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. On the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of August 23, 1939, we call on our respective administrations to honour the history of our partners in Central and Eastern Europe by denouncing the completion and use of this political pipeline.