MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. The Foreign Ministry of Denmark will not be capable of turning down the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction project over an alternative route by virtue of a new law passed by the parliament, Nord Stream 2 AG’s representative in Denmark Marcela Dedoupoulos told TASS on Friday.
"This alternative route does not pass through Danish territorial waters and is therefore not influenced by the new law in Denmark implemented as of January 1 this current year, which gives the Minister of Foreign Affairs the right to veto infrastructure projects on grounds of foreign and security policy concerns," she said. "UNCLOS [UN Convention on the Law of the Sea-TASS] ensures the right to lay pipes and cables on the seabed" in international waters, the spokesperson noted.
"We believe that the optimal route we have applied for will be approved of the Danish Government. However, if such a route would not be available due to a governmental veto, we will construct the pipelines through the Danish exclusive economic zone as applied for today. It is evident that a rerouting will provide additional cost, but both our shareholder and financial investors support this alternative route," she said.
Denmark has not yet issued a permit to lay the Nord Stream 2 pipeline through its territorial waters, although the first application was presented as early as in April 2017.
The operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project has applied for an alternative pipeline route in Denmark, according to the press release "Submission of Application and Environmental Impact Assessment for an Alternative Route in Denmark" published on the project’s website.