One of the two leaders of Germany’s Green Party (likely coalition partner) opposes putting Nord-Stream 2 into operation (German article, translation in the comments)
One of the two leaders of Germany’s Green Party (likely coalition partner) opposes putting Nord-Stream 2 into operation (German article, translation in the comments)
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>_Green Party leader Baerbock has spoken out in favor of not granting an operating permit for the recently completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline for the time being. She said there was a risk of a violation of EU law._
>It’s a clear message – also to the possible coalition partners of SPD and FDP: Green Party leader Annalena Baerbock accuses Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of a “poker game” with energy prices. And she is provisionally opposed to the commissioning of Nord Stream 2. According to European energy law, the operator of the pipeline “would have to be someone other than the one who passes the gas through,” Baerbock said in an interview with Funke-Mediengruppe.
>__Federal Network Agency examines possible legal violation__
>The German-Russian pipeline has been completed. But no gas is flowing through it yet. One of the reasons for this is that the Federal Network Agency is still examining whether the controversial pipeline violates EU law. This stipulates that gas production and gas transport may not be in the same hands.
>The deadline for a decision by the authority is January 8, but Russia’s Gazprom would like to start deliveries earlier.
>__Not to be “blackmailed” by Russia__
>At the end of their exploratory talks, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP had not explicitly mentioned Nord Stream 2 in their joint paper, but they did record the sentence: “European energy law applies to energy policy projects, including in Germany.” The FDP and especially the Greens are considered harsh critics of the German-Russian project, while the SPD has always defended it. Green Party leader Baerbock also warned in the Funke interview that one should “not allow oneself to be blackmailed.” Critics had recently accused Russia of deliberately withholding gas and thus driving up energy prices in order to increase pressure on Germany for the commissioning of Nord Stream 2. The Russian ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nethayev, expects that even a new federal government will stick to the pipeline project, as he told the Berliner Zeitung. Natural gas supplies are “not a means of political pressure for Russia,” the ambassador said.
Translation from the linked interview (video):
>**Question**: You do not want the pipeline to receive an operating license, but the SPD [largest future coalition party] supports the project. Is this the coalition’s first dispute before it even arises?
>
>**Baerbock**: Well, this pipeline, even if we are currently having a big debate about energy prices, does not serve the security of Europe, nor does it serve security of supply, but it has been created for years by the Russian regime against ~~the~~ Ukraine and also against the common European energy policy, and that is why I think it is wrong for us to create another dependency that leads to a situation like the one we already have with a view to the high gas prices, that we as Europeans can be blackmailed, and that is why I have again and again made clear: for this pipeline, for the gas that is to flow through it, European energy law must apply and the European requirements must be complied with, and this is currently not the case.
>
>**Q**: Exactly. That still has to be clarified, but once that has been clarified, for the SPD, as Olaf Scholz [designated chancellor] recently said, it is only a formal decision, not a political one, but for you it is the latte. How is that supposed to go together?
>
>**Baerbock**: Yes, that is not just a highly political decision, it is a question for Europe’s common security policy, and it is no coincidence that almost all other European countries are against this pipeline. Nonetheless, the old federal government (CDU and SPD) pushed this ahead massively, always with this argument, which Olaf Scholz is now repeating: “This is not a political project, but a purely economic project, but the opposite is the case, and we feel this in this tense gas price situation so that, of course, the Russian government, the Russian corporations, which are directly part of it, are also using energy exports as a means of exerting pressure on us, and we should make ourselves much more independent of such fossil energy imports in the future. And yes, we are discussing that too in these talks that we are currently holding for a new federal government.
Say what you want about the Greens, but their foreign policy is exactly where we need to be at.
And yet it will be
Nein to nuclear, nein to gas.
Good luck with that.
I would like to enter a greens head and see how they want to produce heat and electricity in the midst of a central european winter.
While the pipeline is already completed, the reason it’s not in operation yet is because the permission is lacking from German authorities.
The reason for that is because EU law stipulates that the operating company must be separate from the constructing company which must be separate from the entities giving the permit
…which in Russia’s case there is a high likelihood that they are NOT separate entities.
Only when the Russian firm operating the pipeline turns out to be independent from the others involved in the project can the pipeline start to pump gas.
Good for her but it’s still gonna happen. Europe still needs gas and part of it will flow through NS2. Would be stupid to not use it after spending billions on it.