interview
In an interview with the star demanded former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to let gas flow through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline again in order to avoid bottlenecks in Germany. If you don’t want that, you have to bear the consequences: completely new distribution struggles in Germany.
Nikolaus Blome and Gregor Peter Schmitz
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD has recommended that the federal government alleviate the acute gas bottleneck in Germany by using the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Schröder, who is now the head of the board of directors of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, said in an interview with star and RTL/ntv: “The simplest solution would be to put the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation. It’s ready. When things get really tight, there is this pipeline, and with both Nord Stream pipelines there would be no supply problem for them German industry and German households.”
In response to the reply that the federal government had clearly ruled out operation after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schröder said: “If you don’t want to use Nord Stream 2, you have to bear the consequences. And they will be huge in Germany too. Anyone who heating with gas is already starting to feel it….It’s uncomfortable for us sitting here, but it’s doable.But for a lot of people who have to reckon with every cent, it’s going to be really hard.And then one will ask in Germany: “Why are we doing without the gas from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline? Why? I wasn’t always a pure market economist in my political career, but one principle of the market economy is quite simple: if the supply is reduced, then prices go up.”
Gerhard Schröder: “I don’t want to be in the shoes of those responsible”
Schröder did not share Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s assessment that there could be a risk of popular uprisings in Germany if gas became scarce and really expensive: “Oh nonsense, popular uprisings.” But he said: “We’re likely to see a whole new dimension of distribution struggles. I don’t want to be in the shoes of those responsible.” Schröder also addressed the fact that the head of the Federal Network Agency, a civil servant, could soon decide who gets gas in the industry, for example, and who doesn’t: “It will be a situation that we have never had in Germany. If BASF For example, if there is no more gas, BASF has a big problem, but we Germans have a huge one. Entire branches of industry such as glass or paper are on the brink.”
Schröder doesn’t believe in the EU Commission’s suggestion that other European countries should significantly reduce their gas consumption in order to help Germany. to help us Germans. They are telling us exactly what we said to the southern countries during the euro crisis: you lived beyond your means. By the way: when I was chancellor, we Germans were only 35 percent dependent on Russian gas. At the end of Mrs. Merkel’s era, our dependency was significantly higher.”
You can read the full interview with former Chancellor Schröder here
Source: Stern
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