In the face of expanded US sanctions against companies and countries participating in the development of Nord Stream 2, the EU is preparing its own measures to protect the European Union as the United States tightens its sanctions law.

"The EU's position on U.S. sanctions against European companies that carry out legitimate and lawful activities under European law is unequivocal. They are unacceptable and contrary to international law, and the Union firmly opposes them," Joseph Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a written response dated June 25.

By damaging the European Union's economic interests, U.S. sanctions would weaken the two parties' show of unity against Russia's actions to destabilize Ukraine, after Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Kiev in 2014, Borrell said further.

Timm Kehler, head of gas lobby Zukunft Erdgas, in a statement to the committee published before the event, said such a precedent of "extra-territorial sanctions" must be avoided, a notion that all of Europe can unite around.

"The adoption of such a tightened and retroactive sanctions law would be an unacceptable encroachment on the EU sovereignty and energy security of Western Europe," he said.