The proposal by the deputy chairman of the Bundestag Wolfgang Kubicki (Wolfgang Kubicki) to resume the operation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline provoked criticism among his party comrades and in the German government write the publications of the group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) on Friday, 19 of August.

“The Federal Minister of Economy must do everything so that we have more energy. We must open Nord Stream 2 as soon as possible to fill our gas storage facilities for the winter,” said Kubicki. In his opinion, “there are no good reasons not to open Nord Stream 2”.

“If we get more gas that way, maybe even the entire volume guaranteed by the contract, it will help people not freeze in the winter, and our industry will not be seriously harmed. Now, the federal government’s primary responsibility is to ensure that this happens,” Kubicki said.

The government called the Nord Stream 2 launch proposal “absurd”

The leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), German Finance Minister Christian Lindner (Christian Lindner) called Kubicki’s proposal “wrong and absurd”, the ministry’s press service said. The German government has said that the launch of Nord Stream 2 is not on the agenda.

Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil pointed out that shutting down Nord Stream 2 was one of the West’s responses to the war and stressed that refusing it “would be a victory for Putin” without bringing confidence that energy security will shift to best.

The head of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, reminded Kubicki that the moratorium on the launch of the pipeline was one of the points of her own program.

Stefan Tomae of the FDP called the possible release of Nord Stream 2 a “catastrophic breach of trust in allies” that “will only play into Putin’s hands”.

“Commissioning Nord Stream 2 will send a completely wrong signal. The fact that Germany simply ignored the massive fears of its European neighbors and NATO allies for many years was a serious mistake that ruined much of its foreign and security policy. . We must not continue to make this mistake under any circumstances,” wrote another FDP member, Michael Theurer.

Kyiv compared Kubikka’s idea to drug addiction

“The calls by some German politicians to operate the SP-2 for a short time and then shut it down are completely unreasonable. It is reminiscent of drug addiction, when a person says, “Just for the last time!” Without realizing the consequences devastating every “last time.” Russian gas addiction kills!”, – wrote the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba on Twitter.

Stopping Nord Stream 2 and the Threat of a Crisis

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the freeze on commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline a few days before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – after the Kremlin recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed “LPR” and “DPR”.

“At this stage, it is important – in addition to the initial sanctions, to avoid further escalation and therefore another catastrophe. All our diplomatic efforts are aimed at this,” Scholz said at the time.

After the outbreak of war, Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas supplies, faced the risk of an energy crisis. By August 2022, supplies through the Nord Stream pipeline had dropped to 20% of capacity.

The Berlin official called the reduction in Moscow’s gas supply blackmail, and Scholz pointed out that Russia is using far-fetched pretexts to reduce supplies in breach of contract. In Moscow, this drop is explained by the lack of a turbine, which was repaired in Canada in June and has been in Germany since the middle of last month, waiting to be sent to Russia.

Full gas stores may not be enough for the winter

If Germany manages to fill 95 percent of its gas storage by November, those volumes will be enough for just two and a half months of heating and industrial consumption in the event of a complete interruption of Russian gas supplies, Klaus Müller, head of the Federal Department Grid Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA), said earlier. Müller).

With the risk of a colder-than-usual autumn and the possibility of further supply disruptions, the government’s target of 85% storage capacity by October could be a challenge, warned Mueller. The 95 percent target by November seems “illusory” to achieve, he said, as some stores take longer to fill.