“Business with good friends”

Criticism of the planned gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 to connect Russia and Germany is mounting, while former chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) continues to support the project as chair of its board of directors, writes Markus Wehner in an in-depth article for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). “Gerhard Schröder supports Russian energy exports that in turn finance Russian war exports,” while the whole world is appalled by the country’s role in the Syrian war, said Reinhard Bütikofer, Green member of the European Parliament. German conservative politician and chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Bundestag Norbert Röttgen (CDU) told FAZ, “In my view, the federal government’s language regime that as a private economic project Nord Stream 2 has nothing to do with politics is inacceptable and provocative.” Social democrat and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel continues to support the project, Wehner writes.

Read the article in German (behind paywall) here and a shorter version here.

For background read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and its implications for international security.