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Construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea is stalled after threats of massive sanctions from the US The German port of Mukran in Sassnitz on Rügen has been under constant pressure from American politicians for weeks. Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and Ron Johnson issued a letter threatening restrictions in the event that the controversial gas pipeline from Russia is completed.
The federal government has apparently responded with an offer in the billions. According to a report in the weekly “Zeit”, Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz (SPD) let his US counterpart Steven Mnuchin know, first verbally and then in writing, that Germany was willing to finance the construction of two special ports for the import of liquefied gas.
The investment is intended to save the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline. American companies want to export American gas to Germany through terminals in the ports of Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven.
In the written proposal, which, according to “Zeit”, reached Washington on August 7, the federal government promised to “massively increase public support for the construction” of the terminals by contributing up to one billion euros. “
In July, the US government threatened to penalize companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2. One of the reasons for US resistance is that US President Donald Trump wants to sell US gas to Germany instead. Russian gas. This requires the construction of several terminals.
However, according to the report, the federal government is demanding far-reaching concessions from the United States government for the investment of billions of dollars in the special ports. “In return, the United States will allow the smooth completion and operation of Nord Stream 2,” reads the written Berlin proposal. “The existing legal options for sanctions are not exhausted.”
On September 24 and 25, the EU heads of state will also discuss the future of the gas pipeline at their summit in Brussels. After the poison attack on Russian opponent Alexej Navalny, several politicians from the Union parties called for a construction freeze on Nord Stream 2.
Meanwhile, the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned against seeing the Baltic Sea gas pipeline as a possible contribution to the understanding between Europe and Russia. In her State of the European Union address, she said: “To those asking for closer relations with Russia, I say: the poisoning of Alexei Navalny with a highly developed chemical warfare agent is not an isolated incident.”
The same pattern had previously been seen in Georgia and Ukraine, Syria and Salisbury, and in interfering in elections around the world. “This pattern is not changing, and no pipeline will change anything,” von der Leyen said.
So far, the federal government has left the future of the project open. Navalny has been treated at the Berlin Charité since August. According to information from special laboratories, it is said that he was poisoned with a nerve agent. One possibility is that a Russian secret service is responsible for the crime. Russia denies the accusations.
