Did Scholz offer the US government to buy liquefied gas in order to avoid sanctions against Nord Stream 2 in return?
The environmental aid published an explosive letter.
Berlin - For the SPD * top candidate Olaf Scholz, the publication of this letter could be tricky.
He is said to have proposed a billion-dollar deal to the US last year to prevent sanctions against the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
This emerges from documents that the German Environmental Aid (DUH) made public on Tuesday.
Accordingly, on August 7, 2020, Scholz is said to have offered in a personal letter to the then US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to promote the import of liquid natural gas from the US with up to one billion euros if the US government imposed sanctions against the North in return Stream 2 waive.
The Federal Ministry of Finance * did not want to comment on the announcement on Tuesday, according to the dpa.
Obviously, however, the federal government and the top SPD parliamentary group were involved in Scholz's controversial proposal.
"The letter was coordinated with the specialist departments," and the Chancellery * was also involved, said SPD parliamentary director Carsten Schneider on Wednesday.
He was also informed about his parliamentary group office.
Federal government wanted to promote the construction of liquid gas terminals - environmental aid speaks of a "scandal"
DUH Federal Managing Director Sascha Müller-Kränner spoke of a "scandal" and a "dirty deal at the expense of third parties".
The letter, which was written in English, shows that the German government, in cooperation with the United States, wanted to promote the construction of liquid gas terminals in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel.
At the same time, there is great concern in Berlin about the threatened US sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 natural gas project, it is said in several places.
Germany expects the USA to allow the unhindered construction and operation of the pipeline and also to withdraw the sanction laws that have already been passed.
For this, the federal government is ready to import liquid gas from the USA.
Schneider stood behind Scholz's approach at the time.
The construction of LNG terminals is useful in terms of diversifying the gas supply, there is "nothing shameful about that," said the SPD politician.
He also reiterated his support for Nord Stream 2. Government circles said the federal government was "in contact with the US government on US sanctions and threats to sanction Nord Stream 2".
These conversations are confidential.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert also pointed this out in September last year, shortly after a report on some of the contents of the letter in the
time.
US sanctions on Nord Stream 2: Government emphasizes role of liquefied gas as "important energy source"
At the same time, Seibert had emphasized that natural gas was "an important energy source" for Germany and that liquid gas - also known as LNG (liquified natural gas) - played a "certain role in achieving the national, European and climate targets agreed within the framework of the Paris climate protection agreement" .
The expansion of the liquid gas infrastructure in Germany is also anchored in the coalition agreement.
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Olaf Scholz (SPD), Federal Minister of Finance and top candidate for the SPD: Did he want to make a “dirty deal” with the USA?
© Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Sharp criticism of the Vice Chancellor's * action also came from the opposition.
"It is completely unacceptable that Olaf Scholz is trying to gild US fracking gas in Germany with tax money and at the same time want to buy Nord Stream 2 free from US sanctions," wrote the budgetary spokesman for the Greens * in the Bundestag, Sven-Christian Kindler , in a statement.
The Left * politician Sevim Dagdelen called it "downright criminal, as Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered tax money in the billions for the subsidized construction of LNG terminals".
"You don't make dirty secret deals with bold blackmailers, even if they're in the White House or in the US Senate," said Dagdelen.
Letter from Treasury Secretary Scholz to the US Government: Proposals on LPG and Nord Stream 2
Deutsche Umwelthilfe and other environmental activists have long been fighting against both the construction of liquid gas terminals in Germany and the completion of Nord Stream 2. The Baltic Sea pipeline is supposed to transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany.
The USA and several EU countries are against the almost completed billion-dollar project because they fear that it will become too dependent on Russian gas.
You can find the letter published by the DUH here.
It consists of a short, personal cover letter to the Treasury Secretary of the US administration of ex-President Donald Trump.
Attached is a so-called "non-paper", a secret paper in which the Vice Chancellor explains his proposals.
(dpa / AFP / cibo) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen digital network.
List of rubric lists: © Kay Nietfeld / dpa
