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Polish Briefing 16 August, 2018 9:00 am   
COMMENTS: Mateusz Gibała

Polish Briefing: Russia shines a green light for Nord Stream 2

What goes on in Poland on the 16th of August.

Russia shines a green light for Nord Stream 2

The operator of the construction project for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline received all approvals for the arrangement of the maritime section of the bus on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The consent was issued by the Federal Agency for Natural Resources and concerns a section of the bus with a length of about 114 km. Soon work will begin under the issued permit. The company responsible for the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project argues that it will take environmental aspects into consideration.

At the beginning of June, the Russian Ministry of Construction, Housing and Municipal Services approved the construction of the Russian part of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. So far, Germany, Sweden and Finland have issued a complete set of permits for laying the Nord Stream 2. Denmark has not yet decided on this matter. At the end of November last year, the Danish parliament passed a bill that allows the government to reject pipeline projects due to security or foreign policy concerns.

Reconstruction of tracks from Mazeikiu to Latvia until the end of 2019

By the end of 2019, the Lithuanian Railways (Lietuvos geležinkeliai) will complete the reconstruction of the railway tracks on the Mažeikių-Renge section. The work will cost 10 million euros. According to the Lithuanian minister of transport and communication, the conflict with Orlen Lietuva is a consequence of too aggressive behavior of the previous management of the Lithuanian Railways. On Tuesday, the companies have signed a cooperation agreement in the field of fuel transport.

In 2008, Lithuania disassembled 19 km of the Mažeikia-Renge railway connection. Since then Orlen Lietuva has been forced to transport its products with a longer 150 km long railway route. As a result of dismantling the rails, Lithuania prevented railway deliveries to Latvia, thus limiting competition. As a result, in October 2017, Brussels imposed on the Lithuanian Railways almost 27,87 million euros fine they paid in early January.

In a conversation with the LRT radio, the Lithuanian Minister of Transport and Communication, Rokas Masiulis, stated that the bad relations between Orlen Lietuva and the Lithuanian Railways also affected relations between Poland and Lithuania. – After resolving the conflict with Orlen Lietuva, we returned to normal business relationships. There were various circumstances that helped to improve relations with Poland. It was a serious conflict – he said.