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Fast investment ruin: Nord Stream 2 construction site in Lubmin 2019
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
According to information from Switzerland, the operating company of the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 is insolvent.
Nord Stream 2 AG, headquartered in Zug, had to “deposit the balance sheet”, i.e. had to file for bankruptcy, said the government councilor of the canton of Zug, Silvia Thalmann-Gut, on the SRF broadcaster.
A week ago, the United States imposed sanctions on the company because of the conflict with Russia.
The company did not respond to inquiries.
Earlier in the day, the Reuters news agency reported that bankruptcy was imminent, citing anonymous sources.
Bankruptcy not yet official
“Nord Stream 2 has massive payment difficulties due to the sanctions imposed,” the department later said on request.
As a result, continued employment of 106 dismissed is not possible.
"Officially, bankruptcy has not yet been declared," it said.
In the television interview, Thalman-Gut had said: »But this is not a matter of mass redundancies.
It will only be if the company continues,” she says.
"In this case, however, it is about bankruptcy." In Switzerland, bankruptcy proceedings can be initiated by creditors or the company itself, "if it has to consider itself insolvent," as the Ministry of Economic Affairs writes on its website.
The economics department of a canton corresponds to a ministry of economics in a German federal state.
According to the cantonal authorities, they want to report on Friday how the canton of Zug will react.
Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin initially spoke of 140 layoffs on television on Monday evening.
Nord Stream 2 is a subsidiary of the Russian gas company Gazprom and is headquartered in Zug, a good 30 kilometers south of Zurich.
The pipeline that was laid and completed through the Baltic Sea was supposed to bring Russian gas to Germany.
The federal government put the approval process for Nord Stream 2 on hold last week in view of the Russian escalation in Ukraine.
The United States imposed sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, prohibiting further business with the company.
The Schwerin subsidiary Gas for Europe, founded by Nord Stream 2, has initially ceased operations.
"Due to the situation at Nord Stream 2 AG, the activities of Gas for Europe GmbH have stopped," said a spokesman.
The subsidiary had previously been founded to meet the requirements of the Federal Network Agency.
mamk/dpa/AP/Reuters
