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CSU politician Weber
Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP
With Nord Stream 2, Europe is making itself dependent on Russia for energy policy - this is the main argument of the critics of the controversial Baltic Sea gas pipeline.
Manfred Weber, leader of the European People's Party in the European Parliament, argues the other way round: The CSU vice-president suggests using Nord Stream 2 as a political means to force the Russian government to correct course.
Actually, the pipeline project is "not in the European interest," Weber told SPIEGEL.
"It stabilizes the Putin system economically, which acts massively against the EU and its states." Since a construction freeze cannot be made with the federal government at the moment, Weber believes that the EU should use the controversial pipeline as a lever in foreign policy.
The use of Nord Stream 2 should "be made with reservations and linked to the further behavior of the Russian leadership," says Weber.
He is taking up an idea by Wolfgang Ischinger that the head of the Munich Security Conference recently presented in a guest article for SPIEGEL.
"If the Russian leadership does not return to working together as partners, then the pipeline will not be able to run fully profitably," said Weber.
"That would then be the responsibility of the Kremlin."
more on the subject
Dispute over Nord Stream 2: The buck has to go to Moscow A guest contribution by Wolfgang Ischinger
Icon: Spiegel PlusKonsortium informs federal government: Nord Stream 2 is to be continued from next weekBy Frank Dohmen and Gerald Traufetter
US President Biden on German-Russian gas pipeline: "Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal for Europe"
Icon: Spiegel Plus Deputy Head of the EU Commission after humiliation in Moscow: "I should have given in to my desire to fight" An interview by Markus Becker, Ralf Neukirch and Christoph Schult
Weber calls for Europeans to be more self-confident when it comes to foreign policy.
Europe must "cast off its naivety in dealing with Putin and other geopolitical actors," says Weber.
It would be an “important European maturation process” if the EU were to use its trade and economic policy in the Nord Stream 2 case as a foreign policy instrument.
Nord Stream 2 has caused the federal government in particular a lot of trouble with various EU countries.
The US is also against the project, which is why the US government has threatened German companies with sanctions.
Nevertheless, efforts to complete the pipeline will be intensified.
On Thursday, the Russian laying ship »Akademik Tscherski« left Wismar and is now to lay the last 140 kilometers of pipes together with the »Fortuna«, which is already in use.
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