There is a need for dialogue, negotiation and co-operation between the EU and Russia. There is always a case to be made that an actor can achieve greater total benefits from cooperative efforts over being actively hostile. Prioritizing diplomatic means in the interest of both sides is the most advantageous long-term choice.

Three broad arenas of positive diplomacy alternatives exist where the EU can make policy changes:

Germany

Alphabetical Listing

1. American University, School of International Service (USA, District of Columbia)
2. Carleton University, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (Canada, Ontario)
3. Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (USA, New York)
4. Duke University, Sanford School of Public Policy (USA, North Carolina)
5. George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs (USA, District of Columbia)
6. Georgetown University, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (USA, District of Columbia)

Source: Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA)- 2nd Quarter 2017

Author: Mr. Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany’s Ambassador to the U.S., 2001-06, and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference since 2008.

Europe is the biggest importer of natural gas in the world, and the European Union sees natural gas as the key contributor to its transition to a lower carbon world over the next two decades. Russia currently provides about a third of Europe’s gas.

1. The legislation interferes with Constitutionally derived executive power : The current legislation seeks not only to impose sanctions that have been proposed by Congress rather than the Executive, but the bill would force Trump and ostensibly any successor in the White House to go through Congress in order to repeal the sanctions. In this sense, the legislation grants the Legislature powers which are generally a prerogative of the Executive branch. 

The 1,220-kilometer Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters a year, will provide a direct link between reliable Russian gas reserves and European gas consumers from the coast of Russia via the Baltic Sea to Greifswald, Germany. Construction work will begin in 2018 and will be completed by the end of 2019.