The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Nord Stream 2: Controversial climate foundation MV advertises new funding program

2022-06-28T13:44:25.498Z


The controversial MV Climate Foundation was linked to Gazprom in an opaque construct. The board of directors wants to resign, and a committee of inquiry is also meeting. Nevertheless, the foundation is now active again.


Enlarge image

Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) in front of the gas landing station of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline during a visit in 2020

Photo: Jens Büttner / dpa

Actually, the controversial foundation for climate and environmental protection MV should be dissolved.

In fact, the foundation linked to Gazprom is still active.

A new funding program for climate and environmental education projects is being advertised, she announced on Tuesday.

According to this, associations or other institutions can apply for up to 3,000 euros for educational projects on climate and environmental protection.

Research expeditions are mentioned as an example.

The foundation, endowed with millions from Moscow, is considered a symbol of Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig's (SPD) failed policy towards Russia.

The construct was apparently conceived to circumvent US sanctions on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

However, this is not put into operation because of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Nord Stream 2 AG, with the Russian state-owned company Gazprom as the majority shareholder, provided most of the money for the charitable part of the foundation.

However, according to the latest information, far more money flowed into the pipeline construction via the foundation.

After the political entanglements became known, the opposition demanded its dissolution, and the government of Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) and the state parliament now want to dissolve the foundation.

Foundation head Erwin Sellering (also SPD) had initially raised legal concerns about a dissolution, but announced his withdrawal from the board for September.

It is unclear whether this will clear the way for the dissolution of the foundation.

A parliamentary committee of inquiry has recently been investigating the construct.

The decision on the first applications for evidence was planned for Tuesday.

In the Schwerin state parliament, the parliamentary groups of the Greens, CDU, FDP and AfD voted to set up the committee, while the governing groups of the SPD and the left abstained.

mrc/dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-06-28

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.