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WELT AM SONNTAG:
There are protests in Russia against the arrest of opposition activist Alexej Navalny, while Germany is expanding its economic ties with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
How do you see Germany's Russia policy?
Stefan Aust:
There is no question that the way we deal with opposition members as we experience it in Russia is not acceptable to us.
But that also applies to many other countries with which Germany, but also many other EU states, do business, especially in the energy sector.
The oil states or other gas suppliers are usually not democracies.
If we only do business with those countries that share our ideas on this point, we literally have to dress warmly - or we produce our electricity entirely ourselves, which is currently a long way off.
China, with its one-party system, would then also fail as a trading partner.
That should not be the way for the industrial nation Germany.
WELT AM SONNTAG:
At the same time, even under President Joe Biden, the pressure against the construction of the pipeline is unlikely to decrease, and the French are also against it.
How should the protests be dealt with?
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Stefan Aust:
That is an economic policy question for the USA, because the country wants to sell the fracking gas.
Germany would be wisely advised to pursue its own economic interests here.
WELT AM SONNTAG:
How do you rate the commitment of ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in this context?
Stefan Aust:
Whether such a high-ranking politician should go into business after his term in office can certainly be discussed critically.
On the other hand, this must not become a kind of professional ban.
As I know him, Schröder, as head of Gazprom's board of directors, will keep an eye on the interests of the country he once ruled.
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Stefan Aust is editor of WELT AM SONNTAG. Jörn Lauterbach asked the questions.
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Source: Welt am Sonntag