Russia Beyond the Headlines: South Stream cancellation opens new front in gas war
President Vladimir Putin announced early December that the South Stream gas pipeline would no longer run to south-eastern Europe. Since then, the reasons for the Russian about-turn have been discussed all over the comment pages. However, what all the commentators have missed is one salient fact – if the pipeline was going to Germany, or another major European Union country, the outcome would almost certainly have been different.
It seems that there is one set of rules for Germany and France and another set of rules for others in the 28-member union. It’s a classic case of: “Do as I say, not as I do”. This time, though, the European giants may have managed to shoot themselves in the foot.
In 2004, the “EU constitution” was signed in Rome. The treaty would have massively expanded the power of Brussels and was controversial from the beginning. French voters thought they had put paid to it a year later when they rejected it in a referendum, though many other members had already signalled their assent.