In view of the lack of gas, Wolfgang Kubicki has made a surprising proposal: he advocates securing supplies by commissioning Nord Stream 2 – and is met with a lot of opposition.
Wolfgang Kubicki opened a heated debate with a proposal to alleviate the gas shortage. To improve the gas supply in Germany, the FDP deputy spoke out in favor of opening the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. “We should now open Nord Stream 2 as soon as possible to fill our gas storage facilities for the winter,” Kubicki told the editorial network Germany (RND/Friday). There is “no good reason not to open Nord Stream 2”.
If Russia’s President Vladimir Putin then stops supplying gas, Germany has lost nothing. “If more gas reaches us in this way, perhaps even the entire contractually guaranteed amount, that will help people not have to freeze in winter and our industry will not suffer serious damage,” emphasized Kubicki. Ensuring this is the top priority of the federal government. Precisely for this reason, other pipelines from Russia were not cut. “When the gas storage tanks are full, we can close Nord Stream 2 again – and the other pipelines too, once we have become independent. But we are not that yet,” emphasized Kubicki.
When the interviewer pointed out that Putin would exploit this as a great success, the Bundestag Vice President said that everything that ensures that more gas gets here is of more use to Germany than to Putin. “Incidentally, Putin’s greatest propaganda success would be if we ran out of gas while he was still making good money from us. That must be prevented.”
With his proposal, Wolfgang Kubicki has drawn criticism from his own party
FDP faction leader Christian Dürr rejected Kubicki’s request. “In these weeks we are discussing intensively how to avert the impending energy crisis in winter. As the FDP parliamentary group, we have made a number of proposals. The commissioning of Nord Stream 2 is not one of them,” Dürr told the German press on Friday -Agency. The opening of the pipeline from Russia to Western Pomerania “would send the wrong signal to our European partners”.
On the other hand, it would be right to extend the service life of the three remaining nuclear power plants as a first step, Dürr demanded. “That would significantly ease the situation on the energy market and would also be an important sign of solidarity with our European neighbors,” he said.
Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil also rejects Kubicki’s proposal. “I don’t think much of that,” said the SPD politician at an event in Osnabrück on Friday. Germany is currently in a very tough dispute with Russia, which started with Russia’s unjustifiable attack on Ukraine. “Burying Nord Stream 2 was one of the West’s responses to this attack,” Weil said. Backing down at this point would clearly be a victory for Putin without any certainty that energy security will change for the better for the West.
Young liberals speak of “bizarre demand”
The FDP youth organization Junge Liberale (July) reacted with sharp rejection of the demand. “It is completely incomprehensible to me how one can come up with such a bizarre demand,” said the federal chairman of the Julis, Franziska Brandmann, on Friday of the German Press Agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging an energy war against Germany, said Brandmann, who is also a member of the FDP federal executive board. “Anyone who thinks they want to lift sanctions against Russia in this situation is making a deeply illogical argument. It is precisely this kind of naivety towards Russia that has brought us into this precarious situation of massive energy dependence on Russia.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister: “Addiction to Russian gas kills”
Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, also sharply criticized Kubicki’s demands. “The demands of some German politicians to start Nord Stream 2 for a short time and to close it later are completely irrational,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Friday. “It’s similar to drug addiction when someone says, ‘Just one last time!'” Kuleba criticized. “Addiction to Russian gas kills!”
The federal government had put the commissioning of the finished Nord Stream 2 pipeline on hold. Russia currently only supplies around 20 percent of the possible quantity via Nord Stream 1. The Russian gas company Gazprom blames technical reasons for this, the federal government considers this to be a pretense.
Kubicki also advocated exploring the possibilities of fracking in Germany in order to become less dependent on natural gas supplies. “Fracking can make a significant contribution to security of supply in Germany for decades,” said the FDP politician. Fracking uses pressure and chemicals to extract gas or oil from rock layers. Critics see environmental dangers here. The method is banned in Germany, only test drilling is permitted.
Source: Stern
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