- According to the German politician, Nord Stream 2 should be opened as soon as possible in order to prevent problems for citizens and prevent losses in the economy
- When there are gas storage facilities and Germany gains independence in this regard, it will be possible to close Nord Stream 2 and other pipelines from Russia
- Nord Stream 2 gas is no more immoral than Nord Stream 1 gas; it’s just a different pipe – assessed the politician
- More important information can be found on the Onet homepage
– There is no reasonable reason not to launch the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline – said Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy head of the co-ruling FDP party in Germany, in an interview with RND on Friday. – Let me say it clearly: we should open Nord Stream 2 as soon as possible to fill our gas storage facilities for the winter He declared.
Considering that Russia can supply the contractually guaranteed amount of gas without using Nord Stream 2, and that Vladimir Putin deliberately orders too little gas to be shipped through the operating Nord Stream 1, Kubicki replied: “This may be so. However, there is no reasonable reason to not to open Nord Stream 2. If Putin does not supply more gas, we will not lose anything either. And if more gas reaches us in this way, perhaps even the entire amount guaranteed by the contract, it will help prevent people from freezing in winter and serious damage to our industry “.
“When the gas storage facilities are full, we will be able to close Nord Stream 2 again, and other pipelines too, once we become independent. But we are not yet independent“- emphasized Kubicki of the FDP, the liberal party forming the German government together with the social democratic SPD and the Greens.
Nord Stream 1 and 2 route map.
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Gazprom
Russia uses gas to exert political influence over Europe. From June this year Gas flows through Nord Stream 1 dropped to 20 percent. pipeline capacity (although the supply restrictions have been going on for over a year, which translated into almost 10-fold increase in gas prices on the Western European market). At the end of August, Gazprom announced that he was suspending gas supplies to Latvia. This is another country – incl. after Poland, Bulgaria and Denmark – to which the Kremlin withheld gas supplies due to these countries’ refusal to pay in rubles.
The RND editors noted that Putin would probably use propaganda to open the NS2 pipeline, presenting it as a great success, and Germany promised to side with Ukraine.
“We are definitely on the side of Ukraine, nothing will change in this matter” – assured Kubicki. After all, “the problem is that Putin still has the gas we need. (…) cutting off gas supplies to (Germany) does not hurt Russia at all, because the shortage of (gas) has caused a large increase in prices,” the politician added. He assessed that “gas from Nord Stream 2 is no more immoral than from Nord Stream 1; it’s just a different pipe.”
“With the proposal to open the Baltic Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, FDP deputy chairman Wolfgang Kubicki made him unpopular with many members of his party,” Spiegel weekly commented on Friday.
Nord Stream 1 is the main source of Russian gas supplies to Europe.
FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai told “Spiegl” that the decision not to put Nord Stream 2 into service was right. Russia is using energy policy as a weapon, he said, adding that projects like Nord Stream 2 had plunged Germany “into a dangerous dependency that is now causing this difficult situation.”
See also: “Putin’s tube”. We drove to where the Nord Stream ends
FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann also objected to her party colleague. “Nord Stream 2 is dead. There can be no support for Russian war crimes,” she told Spiegel.
The leader of the FDP and the federal minister of finance, Christian Lindner, clearly distanced himself from Kubicki’s statements, ordering a spokeswoman for his ministry to issue a statement that Kubicki’s proposal was “wrong and absurd” – informs the portal of the “Welt” daily.
See also: There is a decision on gas price increases. This will affect the bills