MV Prime Minister: Schwesig sees no reason to resign

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) has again rejected the resignation demands made against her for her support for the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. There is “no reason” for withdrawing from the head of the state government, Schwesig told the “Schweriner Volkszeitung”.

She accused her critics of working with allegations and insinuations “up to and including conspiracy theories”. “And I want to say very clearly: There’s nothing to it. Most people know exactly what it was like with Nord Stream, because we’ve always dealt with it openly and transparently,” emphasized Schwesig. Most recently, CDU leader Friedrich Merz had asked for her resignation in connection with the affair surrounding the climate foundation MV, which was founded to complete Nord Stream 2.

According to Schwesig, the state and federal government, large parts of the economy and also the population were in favor of the construction of the second gas pipeline, through which more Russian natural gas should come to Germany. As a reaction to the American threat of sanctions against companies involved in the construction, the state parliament instructed the state government to stick to the completion of the Baltic Sea pipeline and finally decided to found the climate protection foundation MV. With their help, the pipeline was completed while circumventing the threat of sanctions, but was not put into operation after the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Criticism of Schwesig from several parties

“From today’s point of view, with the turn of the century, you can see things differently. But we have to jump to the years 2020 and 2021, and that was the majority position,” argued Schwesig. The CDU, SPD government partner in Schwerin until 2021, accused her of wanting to distract from her own responsibility with her constant allegations. “Because the CDU supported Nord Stream 2 and the foundation both in the state government and in the state parliament.”

However, criticism of Schwesig’s actions also comes from the Greens, FDP and AfD. In a special session on Tuesday, the state parliament in Schwerin will deal with the processes surrounding the controversial climate foundation, which received 20 million euros from the Gazprom subsidiary Nord Stream 2 after it was founded. The fact that the foundation’s tax files were burned by a tax officer recently caused heated debates, but the state parliament was not informed of this despite inquiries. A parliamentary committee of inquiry is examining the state government’s actions in connection with Nord Stream 2 and the possible influence of Russia on its decisions.