Icon: enlarge
One issue of conflict remains with the new US government: the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline
Photo: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Chancellor Angela Merkel is sticking to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Her attitude to the project has not changed, said Merkel on Thursday in Berlin.
The arrest of the Russian opposition politician Alexej Navalny does not change this either.
Merkel demanded the immediate release of Navalny by the Russian authorities.
At the same time, Merkel made it clear that she is hoping for a negotiated solution to the controversial gas pipeline with the new US President Joe Biden.
The CDU politician said on Thursday in Berlin that they wanted to talk to Washington about "which economic relations in the gas sector with Russia are acceptable and which are not."
Merkel pointed out that the USA also had trade relations with Russia in the oil sector.
"That means we have to put everything on the table," said the Chancellor. We have to talk about whether we no longer want to trade with Russia in the gas sector or what dependency is tolerable.
Merkel again criticized the US sanctions imposed on Nord Stream 2.
The USA accuses Germany of making Europe, with the almost completed pipeline between Russia and Germany, too dependent on Russian energy supplies.
Proponents of the pipeline, on the other hand, accuse the US of only wanting to sell their liquid gas better in Europe.
Dispute over approval could go on for a long time
The dispute in Germany over the approval for the further construction of the tube could meanwhile drag on into next year.
"That can take a while," said the head of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, Karin Kammann-Klippstein.
After the contradictions against the approval of January 15, the two environmental associations would have to justify their step in writing.
There is no specific deadline for this.
Should the Federal Office then reject the contradictions, the associations could sue.
At the same time, the head of the office emphasized that her authority was only examining the admissibility under nature conservation and other aspects.
"But we are not responsible for any political decisions," said Kammann-Klippstein.
The German-Russian project was stopped at the end of 2019 due to threatened US sanctions.
Last Friday, the office approved the immediate construction of the gas pipeline in German waters.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and the Naturschutzbund Deutschland have appealed against this decision.
On Tuesday, under President Donald Trump, the US government punished a company for the first time for participating in the construction of the pipeline.
German manager for construction freeze
In the meantime, it is becoming increasingly clear that Navalny's poisoning has led to a rethinking of Russia in parts of the German economy.
In a partial survey by the Ifo Institute, 196 German managers were asked about trade policy issues in relation to Russia.
A slim simple majority of 48 percent said they were in favor of stopping construction on the pipeline.
However, there are big differences between the industries: three out of four managers in the electrical industry are in favor of an end to the project, in the chemical industry, however, this proportion is only one third: "In view of the chemical industry's dependence on oil imports, this is not surprising," it said Conclusion of the Ifo researchers.
The Eastern Committee of the German Economy recently criticized the US sanctions against the Russian-European gas pipeline.
The USA rejects the 1,200-kilometer-long double tube through the Baltic Sea, arguing that it will make Europe dependent on Russia.
The US also wants to sell more of its gas in Europe itself.
German ports have not yet been affected by US sanctions
According to the responsible state ministry, ports and companies in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are not directly affected by the most recently imposed US sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
"There are no direct sanctions against ports or other companies in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania," said the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Ministry of Infrastructure.
Due to the corresponding rules in the US sanctions laws, it is assumed that the US government would first consult the federal government if sanctions were imminent for a German company.
"So far we are not aware of such cases."
The Trump administration, which has now been replaced, punished a Russian company on Tuesday and classified its laying ship "Fortuna" as "blocked property".
It was the first time that the US government, based on the sanctions laws against Nord Stream 2, punished a company for participating in the construction of the German-Russian gas pipeline.
Icon: The mirror
beb / dpa