The Nord Stream - 2 gas pipeline project provoked sharp disagreements in the German political circles. The reason for the disputes was the statement of a single candidate for the post of head of the European Commission (EC) from the European People’s Party (EPP) Manfred Weber.
On the eve of a politician in an interview with the Polish edition of the Polska Times said that he intends to stop the Russian-German gas transmission project. Weber believes that the launch of the Nord Stream - 2 is contrary to European interests, since it increases Europe’s "dependence" on Russian energy supplies. In addition, the issue of "Nord Stream - 2" splits Europe, he added. The candidate for the post of head of the EP promised that if he won, he would use all the “norms and laws” in order to block the project.
Answering the publication’s question whether he was thus afraid to oppose the interests of Germany, Weber said that he was not a candidate from Germany, but from the European People’s Party. In turn, Europe consists of 28 countries, the politician recalled. In addition, he accused Russia of intending to destabilize European unity, and urged Europe to be ready to introduce new anti-Russian sanctions if necessary.
- Candidate for the post of European Commission head from the European People’s Party Manfred Weber
- Reuters
- © Costas Baltas
Recall that the European People’s Party, which is now headed by Manfred Weber, was founded in the 1970s. The EPP is a supranational organization that includes the parties of most European countries, mainly of a conservative and center-right sense.
"Playing with the future of the country"
Speech by Weber caused bewilderment in Berlin. As the representative of the SPD, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Niels Schmidt, said, the words of the head of the EPP contradict the position of the federal government and Angela Merkel. The SPD urged the ruling coalition partners from the Christian Social Union to clarify their position on the Nord Stream - 2 in connection with the statement of Weber, who has long been a member of the CSU. According to Schmidt, the contradictions in the views on the project should be eliminated.
With more severe criticism of Weber, the Deputy Chairman of the SPD, the head of the government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuel Schwezig, spoke out. She called the position of the EPP candidate “irresponsible” from the point of view of both the energy industry and the economy as a whole.
Schwezig recalled the plans of the Federal Republic of Germany to stop the operation of nuclear power plants by 2038 and stop using brown and black coal in order to fully switch to renewable energy sources. However, without the use of natural gas, it will be impossible to implement it, the politician believes.
“In this case, we will need gas as a transitional solution. We should not play with the future of our country, ”the politician said in an interview with ZDF.
The deputy head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany called “very strange” the fact that Weber reported about his negative attitude towards the project, which has been supported by the German authorities for a long time, through a Polish newspaper. According to Schwezig, in this way, Weber tried to "collect votes in other states at the expense of his own country."
Mattias Mirsh, deputy head of the SPD faction in the Bundestag, also criticized Weber’s statement, noting that an alternative to the Nord Stream-2 could be dependence on American gas supplies produced by fracking, or returning to nuclear power.
- Dismantling of nuclear power plants, Germany.
- Reuters
- © Thilo Schmuelgen
At the same time, the words of Manfred Weber met with support in the camp of the "greens". According to the co-chairman of the party Soyuz-90 / Greens, Robert Habek, Nord Stream-2 will not help in the fight against climate change. In addition, this project is uncertain in geopolitical terms, said Habek in an interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. The politician agrees that the launch of the gas pipeline will strengthen Europe’s energy dependence on Moscow.
It should be noted that one of the key points of the program of the Soyuz-90 / Green party is the requirement to curtail the operation of nuclear power plants.
Recall that the approval of the Nord Stream - 2 project began in 2012: the shareholders of the first branch of the trans-Baltic gas pipeline came to the conclusion that it was necessary to build the third and fourth threads of the pipeline. Subsequently, this project was named "Nord Stream - 2".
The expansion of capacity will increase the supply of natural gas from Russia to Europe in this area by 55 billion cubic meters. meters of gas per year and bring the annual total export volume to 110 billion cubic meters. m of gas. The project is managed by the international consortium Nord Stream 2 AG, which includes the Russian Gazprom, ENGIE (France), OMV (Austria), Shell (United Kingdom), Uniper (Germany) and Wintershall (Germany). The pipeline will be commissioned before the end of this year.
Washington believes that increasing the supply of Russian raw materials to the EU will put Europeans in a dangerous dependence on Moscow. In particular, the United States considered the idea of imposing sanctions against companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2. In response, the Deputy Head of the European Commission for Energy Union Affairs, Maroš Shefchovic, warned American partners about the EU’s readiness to protect its economic interests.
The arguments of Washington actively support Warsaw and Kiev - earlier the Polish authorities have repeatedly acted with sharp criticism of the "Nord Stream - 2".
"The image of a harmless enemy"
Recall Manfred Weber announced his intention to run for the post of head of the European Commission in the autumn of 2018 from the European People's Party. Then analysts called him a protege Angela Merkel, who was supposed to conduct a course of the German chancellor at the European level. The grounds for such conclusions were given by Merkel herself - she supported Weber’s candidacy, noting that “the one who heads the group of EPP deputies will lead the European Union”.
Jean-Claude Juncker’s mandate expires in the fall. According to EU rules, the representative of the party that received the largest number of mandates in the elections to the European Parliament becomes chairman of the European Commission, if his nomination is approved by at least 16 of the 28 Council of Europe member states, as well as the majority of European Deputies.
The European People’s Party, supported by Manfred Weber, won the last elections to the European Parliament and now has 219 mandates out of 751, being the largest faction of the EP. It is likely that the EPP will be able to repeat its success in the upcoming elections. A survey conducted in April in the EU by order of the European Parliament and published by Reuters showed that the EPP is likely to retain its leading position, gaining about 24% of the seats.
- European Parliament.
- Reuters
- © Hannibal Hanschke
Political analysts point out that earlier, Manfred Weber, in general, refrained from making loud statements: the European press wrote about him as too flexible, deprived of the charisma of politics. In addition, Weber has no experience in government work and strong support in Europe, the German newspaper Die Welt writes.
It is possible that with the help of current rhetoric, Weber is simply trying to create an image of a decisive politician and at the same time enlist the support of certain political forces, experts say.
The intention to stop Nord Stream 2 is not Weber's only resonant statement lately. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in February, the politician called for the construction of a European missile defense system, including Ukraine.
“This is something that can really convince people in Poland, in Ukraine, that we can offer protection ... This is something that can unite Europe,” he said.
Experts believe that Weber is clearly trying to win the sympathies of Eastern European countries, and the statement on the “blocking” of Nord Stream 2 is part of this plan: with the help of Polish votes, the EPP must become the leader of the electoral race.
However, as Konstantin Voronov, head of the regional problems and conflicts sector at the Institute of World Economy and Economics named after Primakov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted in an interview with RT, even if the Weber party gains a large number of votes, it’s premature to say that its leadership can influence the policy of Germany and other countries.
“According to the results of the elections, which will be held on May 22-26, the ratio of the forces of parliamentary coalitions will be determined. But a single party or coalition will clearly not receive such an advantage in order to block something by force. Questions will be decided collectively anyway, ”Voronov explained in an interview with RT.
In turn, Timofey Bordachev, Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at HSE, believes that Weber’s chances of winning as a result of such statements may actually increase, despite the outrage of German colleagues.
“ This does not mean at all that if he is elected to the post of head of the EC, he will implement his words. But the future of “Nord Stream - 2” is an acute political issue, which will still have a lot of speculation, ”Bordachev stressed.
A similar point of view is held by the deputy director of the IMEMO RAN Alexei Kuznetsov. The expert also does not exclude that the statement of Weber is an element of the election campaign. And since weber formally heads the EPP, the criticism addressed to him by the German colleagues does not affect him: now he is positioning himself as a politician of a European level.
“The theme of the“ Nord Stream - 2 ”can be used during the campaign by various political forces in those countries that are concerned about this issue, - explained the expert in an interview with RT. “Politicians will mobilize the electorate with the help of an“ external enemy ”in the image of Russia - in fact, harmless, but very emotionally convenient.”