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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
The dispute over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea is one of the greatest tensions in relations between Germany and the United States. It is now known how Finance Minister Scholz tried to solve the problem, to the tune of billions.
After the “Zeit” investigation, the federal government tried to save the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with an offer worth billions. At the beginning of August, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz made to his American counterpart Steven Mnuchin, first verbally and then also in writing, the proposal that Germany was willing to finance the construction of two special ports for the import of liquefied gas. . American companies want to export American gas to Germany through the terminals in the ports of Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Finance declined to comment on the on-demand report. “As usual, we do not comment on individual reports,” said ministry spokeswoman Katja Novak. In the written proposal that reached Washington on August 7, the German government promised, according to the magazine, to “massively increase public support for the construction” of the terminals “by making available up to one billion euros.”
Yet for the billions in investment in special ports, the government is demanding far-reaching concessions from the United States government. “In return, the US will allow the completion and smooth operation of Nord Stream 2,” read the written Berlin proposal. “The existing legal options for sanctions are not exhausted.” However, after the poison attack on Russian opponent Alexej Navalny, several coalition politicians called for the construction of Nord Stream 2 to be stopped.
The United States imposed tough sanctions
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea is almost complete and is supposed to supply Germany with Russian gas. The United States is strictly against it because they fear that Germany and Europe will become too dependent on Russian energy supplies. Many politicians in this country reject it, as does former Foreign Minister Gerhard Schröder, chairman of the supervisory board of the Nord Stream project, half of which is financed by the Russian gas company Gazprom and the other half by European companies from various countries.
In return, Schröder accuses the US of simply wanting to promote the sale of its own liquefied gas, which is promoted using the controversial method of fracking. The United States imposed sanctions on companies involved in construction. This has allowed them to delay construction work until now.
