BRUSSELS, November 9. /TASS/. The presidency of Joe Biden paves the way for a deal between Germany and the United States to resolve the conflict over Nord Stream 2 and complete its construction in exchange for the EU commitments to expand LNG purchases from the US, Simonas Vileikis, a Brussels political adviser to the British consulting company Portland Europe, told TASS on Monday.

"Nord Stream 2 will remain a sore point between Europe and the US after the elections. President-elect Biden will probably speak in a softer tone with Europe and will be in a position to make a few conciliatory steps. However due to Trump's attacks and pressure on the project, Biden will be in a much more comfortable position to negotiate and demand concessions from the Europeans be it higher US gas purchases or trade tariff reductions. In the end I think it will be up to the Europeans, and more concretely Berlin, to show initiative and propose a deal to the Americans in order to complete the project," the expert noted.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of two pipeline strings with a total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. To date, 94% of Nord Stream 2 has been finished. The construction was suspended at the end of 2019 when the Swiss pipe-laying company Allseas stopped work due to US sanctions.

In September 2020, a new powerful attack was launched on this project. The West accused Moscow of poisoning blogger Alexey Navalny and proposed blocking the construction of the pipeline as a measure of pressure on Russia following the incident. Meanwhile, German business and the country's leadership are not ready to lose their investments and incur penalties if the project is terminated.