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Monday, December 28, 2020
Apple of Discord Nord Stream 2
Maas wants to remain tough on the pipeline dispute
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany is almost ready. However, the United States is still trying to stop construction with sanctions. Federal Chancellor Maas emphasizes that he will continue to be tough in the power struggle with Washington. The next change of power in the United States will not change that.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas does not want to back down in the dispute with the United States over the Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline in the Baltic Sea, even after the upcoming change of power in the White House. “We don’t need to talk about European sovereignty if it means that in the future we will just do everything Washington wants,” the SPD politician said in an interview about the replacement of US President Donald Trump by Joe Biden. “The German government will not change its position on Nord Stream 2.”
The gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which is twice 1,200 kilometers long, is 94 percent complete. The United States is still trying to stop them with sanctions and is also threatening German companies. The Americans justify their rejection of the project by claiming that their European partners are too dependent on Russian gas. Proponents of the pipelines, however, accuse the US of just wanting to better sell its liquefied gas in Europe.
Biden rejects Nord Stream 2 as Trump. Maas said that there will continue to be issues in the future on which the United States has different views. “It is important that we have a common line on the central strategic and geopolitical issues, that we are on the same side of the field.”
The federal government is promoting a new beginning in relations
During Trump’s four-year reign, German-American relations sank to a low point due to numerous controversial issues. The federal government is now promoting a new beginning. Trump had accused Germany, among other things, of investing too little in the military. Here, too, Biden is not expected to change course.
Maas recognized NATO’s goal, according to which each member state should spend two percent of its gross domestic product on defense. But he also emphasized that in the course of the Corona crisis, all states would have to reorganize their finances. “Then we will have to talk about what that means for the path we have chosen and for the goal as a whole.”
Regarding Germany’s involvement in NATO’s nuclear deterrent, which his own party, the SPD, questioned, Maas said the security needs of neighboring countries should also be taken into account. “I miss that a bit in the whole debate. When you say that we, like Germany, want to get out of nuclear involvement, you also have to consider what that means for our partners.” This refers to countries like Poland and the Baltic states that border Russia and feel threatened by the neighboring country.
In Büchel, Rhineland-Palatinate, in the Eifel, about 20 American atomic bombs are said to be stored, and leading SPD politicians have repeatedly called for their removal. In an emergency, Bundeswehr fighter jets will drop the bombs. This is what NATO calls “nuclear involvement.”
