Finland issued all necessary permits for construction of Nord Stream 2

Finland has issued a second permit for the construction and operation of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Finnish exclusive economic zone. This is said in the statement of Regional Administrative Agency of Southern Finland, which issued the permit, - Yevropeyska Pravda reports.

Finnish authorities approved a comprehensive plan for the construction and operation of the 374-kilometer Finnish section of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the total length of which is over 1200 km.

The first permission of the Finnish government to build a gas pipeline in the Finnish exclusive economic zone was issued last week.

Nord Stream 2 AG company, which is the operator of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, stated that this way, the process of obtaining permits in Finland was completed. The company claims that procedures for obtaining permits in other countries along the pipeline route - Russia, Sweden and Denmark - are on schedule.

Nord Stream 2 AG is a company established for the planning, construction and operation of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. 51% of the company's shares belong to Gazprom.

Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction and operation of two gas pipeline strings with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Opponents of the project - including Poland, the Baltic States and Denmark - argue that Nord Stream 2 will increase the EU's dependence on Gazprom, which already supplies about a third of the EU's gas.

After the meeting with Petro Poroshenko on April 10 in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted for the first time that Nord Stream 2 is not only an economic project, and its political factor should be taken into account. Merkel stated that Nord Stream 2 project could not be implemented without preserving Ukraine as transit country. In Germany, Nord Stream 2 AG company received a full set of permits for the construction and operation of the gas pipeline.