The "Joint Declaration of the United States of America and Germany in support of Ukraine, European energy security and our climate goals" mentions the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is the cause of the diplomatic document, neither in the title nor in the following preamble .

Only at the end of the second paragraph does the name of the gas pipeline appear for the first time, combined with the third warning in the text that Russia should not be tempted to use “energy as a weapon”.

Johannes Leithäuser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Reinhard Veser

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So while the paper, which the governments in Berlin and Washington formulated in several rounds of talks over the past five months, contains many expressions of support and expressions of goodwill to Ukraine and other Central and Eastern European countries, Russia appears only as a negative actor.

The first sentence of the joint declaration postulates the "sovereignty of Ukraine, its territorial integrity, independence and the European path it has taken".

The second sentence sets Berlin and Washington down on a shared commitment to "take action against Russian aggression and Russian destructive activities in Ukraine and beyond".

Merkel praises willingness to compromise

The American assurance that the resistance against the Baltic Sea pipeline will no longer be accompanied by sanctions against the construction companies and other parties involved is not reflected in the text - the justification for this is that the administration cannot promise foreign policy mechanisms that they can only handle reserved for the American Congress.

However, the joint declaration describes in detail the German commitments on what to do if Moscow deliberately harms Ukraine in the energy sector in the future: “Should Russia try to use energy as a weapon or commit further aggressive acts against Ukraine, Germany will open up act nationally and urge the European Union to take effective measures, including sanctions, to restrict Russian capacities for exports to Europe in the energy sector, including gas, or to take effective measures in other economically relevant areas. ”Further below The German commitment to extend the gas transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia for up to ten years with "all available means of influence" is similarly detailed.

On Thursday, the Chancellor praised the “willingness to compromise on both sides”, both in Washington and Berlin, which made the joint text possible, and said she was “glad that we have succeeded so far”.

Angela Merkel supplemented the negative characterization of Russia, as she put it in the declaration, with optimistic assessments: Moscow itself has asserted that it is not thinking of using energy as a weapon.

You could take the Kremlin at its word for it.

And regarding the extension of the gas transit through Ukraine, she said optimistically that as early as 2019, when the previous transit agreement expired, German efforts to extend it had been commented very pessimistically;

nevertheless, a new term until 2024 has been reached.

A swipe at Trump

The Chancellor left no doubt that the content of the declaration with Washington will remain binding for the next federal government. While the chairman of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, Norbert Röttgen (CDU), stated that the American government had "taken a big step towards Germany" despite the continued rejection of Nord Stream 2, Röttgen's group colleague Johann Wadephul indicated that the joint declaration created a spirit of cooperation has to the content that goes far beyond the occasion. Wadephul said the United States and Germany both wanted to maintain the rule-based order in the world. This includes the support of Ukraine, but also other challenges that Germany wants to "tackle" together with the United States:Be it the climate or the rising power of China - "together we are stronger".