Merkel’s Negotiating Team Is to Discuss Nord Stream 2 in Washington

On the eve of Joe Biden's visit to Europe, Angela Merkel sent a team of her closest advisers to Washington. One of the topics for talks will be the future of Nord Stream 2. Ahead of Joe Biden's first visit to Europe as American President, a high-ranking German negotiating team has gone to Washington to help bring the US and Germany closer together, among other things, with regard to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. This was announced on Tuesday, June 1, by the media group Funke. The German delegation is led by Jan Hecker, Foreign Policy Advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Lars-Hendrik Röller, Merkel's Economic Advisor. They will meet with Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan and new US Trade Representative Catherine Tai. Biden will take part in the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, from June 11 to 13, and then travel to Brussels for a NATO summit and talks with EU leaders. Biden did not impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG On May 25, Biden announced his administration had decided not to impose sanctions against the operator of the Nord Stream 2 project, Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO Matthias Warnig, because the pipeline was almost completed and penalties at this stage would become "counterproductive." At the same time, the American leader stressed that "he cannot prescribe Germany what to do and what not to." "From the very beginning, I opposed Nord Stream 2," Biden said.