In a speech during a European Parliament debate on Wednesday, Borrell said he opposed US sanctions against companies working on the pipeline, Polish website biznesalert.pl reported.
"Do not ask me to support the American sanctions against the firms that are building Nord Stream 2. I am against the extraterritorial sanctions imposed by the United States – everywhere," Borrell told MEPs.
Borrell admitted the pipeline was controversial.
However, he added: "The European Commission has already said that this infrastructure does not lead to diversification of the energy sources of the European Union, which is one of the objectives of our Energy Union. But it is a private endeavor. The European Union does not have the means and tools to decide what to do on Nord Stream 2. It is a matter of private firms and it is a matter of the Germans."
Nord Stream 2, designed to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline, is expected to send around 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea while bypassing the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.
Poland has strongly criticised the gas link amid concerns that the pipeline, which is almost complete, will make the European Union more dependent on Russian gas.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki last week called on Berlin to abandon the project, warning that it was dangerous for the EU.
(pk)
Source: biznesalert.pl/eeas.europa.eu