Again Kretschmer: Saxon thinks of Russian gas deliveries - SPD points to Baerbock 

Created: 2022-10-24 05:47

By: Andreas Schmid

Views Russia sanctions critically: Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer.

© Sebastian Willnow/picture alliance

Saxony boss Kretschmer calls for Russian gas supplies "when the war is over".

The SPD rejects this – but takes Foreign Minister Baerbock to task.

Dresden – No Russian gas has flowed to Germany for months – the Kremlin has stopped deliveries.

The federal government now wants to free itself from the long-standing dependency of what was once the largest German gas importer.

But for now, energy security is suffering from the forced abandonment of Russian gas.

Saxony's CDU Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer is therefore once again calling for Russian deliveries to be resumed.

However, after the end of the Ukraine war.

There is encouragement from the left, the SPD rejects the proposal – but still points to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens).

Kretschmer calls for gas talks with Russia: "When the war is over"

"We need long-term contracts for liquid gas supplies from the USA, Qatar and other Arab countries," Kretschmer told

.

"In addition, we finally have to develop our own natural gas in the North Sea." And: "When the war is over, we should use gas from Russia again."

Saxony boss Kretschmer, the prime minister who is most critical of the sanctions against Russia, also warned of the consequences of Germany's current Russia policy.

“Sanctions are always better than the use of weapons.

But they also have to have the necessary effect on the aggressor," said Kretschmer.

“We must be clear about the effects the sanctions will have on the German economy.

A tsunami is building right now.”

Gas talks with Russia?

Bartsch openly – Kubicki criticizes Kretschmer's idea

The left sees it similarly.

The opposition party, which in parts is also repeatedly critical of sanctions, also does not rule out a Russian gas comeback.

"Of course there will be a time after Putin," said Dietmar Bartsch, leader of the Left Party, to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

"Then talks about gas deliveries from Russia can be possible again."

In the same post, FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki rejected such considerations.

Kubicki described Kretschmer's initiative as a "rather unsuitable attempt to solve our short-term energy problem".

Instead, the Bundestag Vice President called for the use of domestic oil and gas deposits.

"I would remind you that there are corresponding regulations for the oil and gas fields in the North and Baltic Seas in the coalition agreement."

Kubicki expects that Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) "appreciates this agreement accordingly and tackles the exploitation of this potential as soon as possible".

In this situation, Germany “cannot afford ideological brakes”.

Interesting: As late as August, Kubicki called for Nord Stream 2 to be commissioned.

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Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy FDP party chairman and Bundestag vice president.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa/archive image

“To the Foreign Minister”: SPD addresses Baerbock

The SPD also criticized Kretschmer's plans on Sunday.

"The relationship between Germany and Russia is, I fear, shattered for years," Lower Saxony's Social Democratic Prime Minister Stephan Weil told the

.

"Unfortunately, I currently do not see that the trust destroyed by the brutal war can be restored in the foreseeable future."

Party colleague Rolf Mützenich, for his part SPD parliamentary group leader, addressed himself "to the address of the foreign minister".

In the ZDF program "Berlin direct" he called on Annalena Baerbock (Greens) to do more to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine war.

He spoke of opinion polls according to which 60 percent of Germans welcomed more diplomatic initiatives.

And Baerbock is "now the highest diplomat" in the country.

According to Mützenich, there needs to be a "balance" between Ukraine's right to self-defense and diplomacy.

Green leader Omid Nouripour, on the other hand, defended the Ukraine policy of the former party leader.

"Annalena Baerbock is doing everything she can so that we can come to peace," he said, according to ZDF.