Defended for years by the Germany of Angela Merkel and then Olaf Scholz, this controversial gas pipeline, costing 10 billion euros and supposed to double Germany's supply capacity for Russian gas, has the expense of the invasion of Ukraine.

Its certification has been suspended indefinitely by the German government and the company that operates it, which has laid off a hundred employees, is on the verge of bankruptcy.

But for the coastal village near which the underwater metal pipes end, the abandonment of the construction site, which has just been completed, forces it to reinvent itself.

"Waste"

"I can't imagine that such a huge and above all expensive project could simply fall into industrial ruins," Mayor Axel Vogt told AFP.

This investment of 11 billion "is no more than a piece of steel, resting at the bottom of the sea", had on the contrary welcomed the spokesman of the American diplomacy, Ned Price, after years of opposition relentless drive from Washington to the German-Russian gas pipeline.

In the peaceful village of just over 2,000 inhabitants, in northeastern Germany, the inhabitants are still divided.

Kerstin Ahrens, 60, says she is against the suspension of Nord Stream 2 despite Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine.

It would be "such a waste of money," she told AFP on a white sand beach, not far from the huge pipeline.

"Everything is horrible with Russia but I don't think it's good that we stop it now".

The network of operational and planned gas pipelines in Europe Patricio ARANA AFP

"Everyone had hoped that the gas would be cheaper and now everything is more expensive, and there is not that much money in this region," she also argues.

Another resident, Heike Schulte, is of the opposite opinion: the gas pipeline should indeed be stopped, "simply because the dependence on Russia is too great".

This 66-year-old woman even says she is ready to pay more if it is the price to pay for giving up the cheaper Russian energy.

"It's the price of civilization, we have to live with it," she asserts.

The tax consequences of freezing the project for the municipality have not yet been assessed.

"Major topic"

The mayor of the village is eyeing him, to make the pharaonic installation profitable, towards hydrogen, "a major subject, not only here in Germany, but throughout the European Union and also in other countries outside the EU" .

It would indeed be technically possible, according to Mr. Vogt, for the pipeline to transport hydrogen.

However, such a development will take a long time in view of the appeals and legal proceedings to come in this case, which has poisoned relations between Berlin and Washington in recent years.

And the incessant controversies that have surrounded the site since its start have scalded some potential investors, according to the mayor.

The mayor of Lubmin, in northeastern Germany, Axel Vogt in the industrial park of this city, March 1, 2022 John MACDOUGALL AFP / Archives

Nord Stream 2, a project piloted by the Russian giant Gazprom, has indeed caused an outcry among Germany's allies as soon as it was planned.

The United States but also the countries of the European Union from the former Eastern bloc have from the start denounced this gas pipeline whose route bypasses Ukraine and which threatened, according to them, to increase energy dependence of Europe vis-à-vis Russia.

But Angela Merkel's government has somehow supported the project, considering it essential for Germany's energy transition, and construction work was completed in September 2021.

It took Moscow's recognition of the pro-Russian Ukrainian provinces for Mr. Scholz to resolve, on February 22, to suspend the project, perhaps definitively.

© 2022 AFP