EU silence adds weight to sabotage claim

This is an editorial from China Daily.

The Russian mission to the United Nations has called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to be convened from Wednesday to Friday to discuss the sabotaging of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in September, following a report by a respected US journalist that laid the blame on the United States.

In stark contrast with Russia's understandable desire to find out and hold those responsible accountable for the sabotaging of the energy infrastructure, which has paralyzed the majority of its natural gas supply to Europe till now, the European Union has kept a studied silence over the claim that the US was responsible for it. The findings of respective investigations conducted by Denmark, Germany and Sweden have not been forthcoming.

No wonder that after investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published his report earlier this month detailing how the US, with the help of Norway, planned and executed the sabotage under the cover of a NATO maritime drill last year, some members of the European Parliament are unwilling to turn a blind eye to what the EU has been doing any more.

European Parliament member Clare Daly slammed the EU's "frankly astounding" "lack of interest" in finding answers to the incident in a recent meeting of the bloc's legislature.

She said: "I find it frankly jaw-dropping that the EU is not asking questions as to who is responsible for sabotaging the livelihoods of our citizens. I am ashamed to be a European."

And in the same meeting, Mick Wallace, another member of the European Parliament, echoed Daly in saying: "This (sabotage of the pipelines) was a premeditated terrorist attack on European critical infrastructure. It was also environmental terrorism."

However, the questions Wallace asked of the bloc — "Does the EU care? Do you need to know who did it? Or do you want to know?" — look like that they are to be swept under the carpet.

The strongest response of the EU over the incident was back in September when European Commission President Von der Leyen said that it was paramount to investigate the explosions that had damaged the pipelines to get full clarity on what had occurred, vowing the "strongest possible response" in the event that European energy infrastructure had been attacked.

However, the "strongest possible response" so far from the bloc has been no response.

The claim that it was the US that sabotaged the pipelines has been a test question for the EU and other stakeholders with regard to the Ukraine crisis and the shaping of the future geopolitical situation in Europe.

The EU should choose the right answer by supporting an independent investigation of the incident and not just blindly side with the US.