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Investigative committee for the MV Climate and Environmental Protection Foundation in January 2024
Photo: Ulrich Perrey / picture alliance / dpa
The MV Climate and Environmental Protection Foundation, financed with money from Russia, will remain in existence until further notice.
In his report presented in Schwerin, the lawyer Andreas Urban, commissioned by State Parliament President Birgit Hesse, came to the conclusion that a legally compliant dissolution of the foundation was not possible.
On March 1, 2022, immediately after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the state parliament decided by a large majority to dissolve the foundation.
A report prepared on behalf of the state considered this to be possible.
Constant dispute in the state parliament
However, the board led by former Prime Minister Erwin Sellering (SPD) refused to implement the decision, citing foundation law, and in turn submitted a counter-report that classified the dissolution as legally unenforceable.
Since then, the issue has been the subject of an ongoing dispute in the state parliament.
That's why State Parliament President Hesse entrusted Urban with a new audit at the end of November 2023.
The MV Climate Protection Foundation was founded at the beginning of 2021 to enable the completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline while circumventing threats of sanctions from the USA against the companies involved.
The subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom contributed 20 million euros to the foundation for environmental projects.
The foundation's business operations, which were temporarily set up to complete the construction of the gas pipeline and were also financed by Nord Stream 2, have now been wound up.
A special committee of the state parliament deals with the background and circumstances of the founding of the foundation and its impact.
kub/dpa