France challenges pipeline in first signs of rift with Germany

FRANCE is set to challenge a controversial gas pipeline project between Germany and Russia in the first sign of a rift between Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.

Less than a month after the leaders signed a friendship treaty, France announced yesterday it is backing a bid to bring Germany’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline under EU regulations. Germany has been building a blocking minority to stop the move, but it was dependent on France.

“Nord Stream 2 would make Europe vulnerable to Russian blackmail in the energy sector,” the ambassadors to Germany, Denmark and the EU wrote yesterday.