Estonian foreign ministry can allow Nord Stream company starting research in Estonian waters

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There is great possibility that on Thursday Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet will give a positive response to a request for permission to study the sea bed by Nord Stream company, reports Eesti Paevaleht (Estonia).

According to advisor of Deputy Foreign State Secretary for Legal Issues Kristi Land, only the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can prohibit studies in the Estonian economic area in cases envisaged by the law. As Land says, the request contained two points on the basis of which the research could have been prohibited, but all debated issues on the points have been settled by today. “The company has confirmed to the Foreign Ministry that it will not conduct research or boring of the sea bed in the Estonian territorial waters,” Land said.

As it was reported earlier, the union of rightist parties Homeland — Res Publica intends to influence the decision of the Estonian government through its members of the Cabinet of Ministers and to refuse to issue a permit to Nord Stream for conducting research in Estonian waters for further lay-out of the Russian-German gas pipeline on the Baltic Sea bed. Another member of the ruling coalition, the Reformist Party is not ready yet to sound its final position on the issue.