Britain and other major European countries with maritime borders in the North Sea signed an agreement on Tuesday to work together to protect submarine infrastructure in the North Atlantic Ocean from increased risk of sabotage, AP News reports.
Denmark’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities in a statement described the North Sea as the centre of critical infrastructure that connects Europe with electricity cables, gas pipelines and telecommunications and is an important source of renewable energy. The Danish ministry said:
“An increasing mutual dependence across borders has arisen — and with it an increased risk of sabotage and unwanted attention from hostile actors.”
This measure was prompted by the undisclosed explosions in 2022 that damaged Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. They occurred in international waters, but within the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark. Both countries have dropped their investigations into the explosions.
The explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was the main route for natural gas supplies to Germany until Russia cut off supplies at the end of August 2022. They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was never commissioned because Germany suspended the certification process shortly before the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine in February of that year. Denmark’s Climate, Energy and Utilities Minister Lars Aagaard said:
“The North Sea has the potential to become the cradle of a renewable and secure energy supply in Europe, while supporting the road to a fossil free future. The six countries — Denmark, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands — must stand united and coordinated in our efforts to protect critical infrastructure across borders. This understanding is an important step in that direction.”
As part of the co-operation, the countries will jointly analyse current protection and resilience measures, share information and knowledge, and provide relevant information at the operational level, the Danish ministry said in a statement. “In addition, the co-operation builds on relevant areas of work within the EU and NATO,” the statement said.
In May 2022, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany said they planned to accelerate the continent’s green transition and help it get rid of Russian energy imports with a major new wind farm project in the North Sea. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said they want to quadruple the total capacity of offshore wind farms by 2030 and tenfold by 2050. The plan is to power 230 million European households.
