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{"id":8491,"date":"2022-01-26T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lossi36.com\/?p=8491"},"modified":"2023-03-15T16:03:31","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T16:03:31","slug":"grune-ostpolitik-north-stream-2-and-germanys-new-foreign-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lossi36.com\/2022\/01\/26\/grune-ostpolitik-north-stream-2-and-germanys-new-foreign-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Gr\u00fcne Ostpolitik: North Stream 2 and Germany\u2019s New Foreign Minister\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"Judging by public speeches and information provided by Die Gr\u00fcne, Baerbock and her party have, <\/span>in concreto<\/span><\/i>, fought against a wide range of aspects of NS2. To slow down the commissioning of NS2, Baerbock and Die Gr\u00fcne have mostly agitated against the project over <\/span>legalistic concerns<\/b><\/a> as of recently, but most of their objections against the project are more existential in nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first of these objections boil down to environmental concerns. As argued on the websites of the <\/span>Heinrich B\u00f6ll Stiftung<\/i><\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Die Gr\u00fcne<\/b><\/a>, the pipeline interferes with local marine ecosystems, while NS2 and the accompanying increased natural gas usage would hinder Germany\u2019s commitment to the Paris Climate Accords.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, Baerbock and Die Gr\u00fcne<\/span> have decried the \u201c<\/span>eminently political<\/b><\/a>\u201d nature of the project, which would \u201conly benefit \u2018<\/span>The Putin System<\/b><\/a>.\u2019\u201d More specifically, she argued in <\/span>September 2020<\/b><\/a> that Gazprom will use NS2 as a means of political pressure against neighbouring countries, just like it has done in the past. Ultimately, Germany\u2019s completion of the project would contradict EU policies of solidarity with Ukraine: increasing cooperation with Russia in times of economic sanctions \u201cwithout any prospect of a solution to the conflict sends an exactly opposing political signal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Baerbock also questions the <\/span>economic rationale<\/b><\/a> behind the project: Germany\u2019s economy does not need more gas to begin with. In other words, \u201cif [European] governments take the existing goals to increase energy efficiency seriously,\u201d the <\/span>Heinrich B\u00f6ll Stiftung<\/i><\/b><\/a> states, there should be no need for additional gas pipelines.<\/span><\/p>\n While Baerbock and Die Gr\u00fcne<\/span> have long been critical of NS2, their voice has long represented a marginal voice in German politics. After all, Angela Merkel’s cabinets, in which current Chancellor Scholz took the post of Minister of Finance between 2018 and 2021, have mostly supported the project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In contrast to the environmental concerns of Baerbock and <\/span>Die Gr\u00fcne<\/b><\/a>,<\/span><\/i> German advocates of the project have stressed its \u2018green\u2019 nature. The greenness of NS2 would lie in its role as \u201ctransition technology\u201d or \u201c<\/span>bridging technology<\/b><\/a>\u201d that would have to play a vital role in shifting away from coal towards more sustainable sources of energy. Moreover, advocates of NS2 have stressed the role of the pipeline in providing Germany and Europe with a sense of energy security, with Angela Merkel reassuring Ukrainian President Zelenskyy that NS2 does not amount to a \u201c<\/span>political weapon<\/b><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After Die Gr\u00fcne ultimately secured nearly fifteen percent of the votes, making them the third-biggest party after social democratic SPD and Christian democratic block <\/span>CDU\/CSU<\/span><\/i>, Baerbock stood her ground regarding NS2: she <\/span>spoke out<\/b><\/a> against the commissioning of the pipeline for violating EU law, referred to Russia\u2019s negotiation strategy as \u201c<\/span>blackmail<\/b><\/a>,\u201d and supported the<\/span> suspension<\/b><\/a> of the pipeline\u2019s certification procedure. This hardline would soon be tested, however, as Scholz\u2019s SDP, Baerbock\u2019s Die Gr\u00fcne, and liberal democratic FDP<\/span> ultimately reached a coalition agreement in November, NS2-critic Baerbock secured the post of <\/span>Foreign Minister<\/b><\/a>, in a cabinet to be headed by a supporter of the project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Contrasting Baerbock\u2019s criticism of NS2 with the position of chancellor Scholz, and having the October-November European gas crisis in the back of their heads, commentators soon <\/span>speculated<\/b><\/a> what Baerbock\u2019s tenure could mean for the future of NS2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ever since Baerbock was voted in as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 8 December, she has hardly been able to sit back and enjoy a few quiet first weeks. Developments on North Stream II have followed each other rapidly since Baerbock\u2019s instalment, prompting the first real tests of Baerbock and her party\u2019s commitment to their fundamental objections.<\/span><\/p>\n On <\/span>12 December<\/b><\/a> 2021, Baerbock stated that the requirements for commissioning the pipeline had not been met, for the pipeline still did \u201cnot meet requirements of European energy law, while questions pertaining to European security have not been solved either.\u201d The gas markets responded immediately: <\/span>European gas prices<\/b><\/a> hit a record high the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n Soon enough, as European gas prices increased, European unity against NS2, as articulated by Baerbock during her <\/span>October 2020 speech<\/b><\/a>, appeared to wane. More specifically, in a response to Baerbock\u2019s comments made a day earlier, Austria\u2019s Foreign Minister <\/span>Schallenberg<\/b><\/a> requested\/demanded the Council of European Foreign Ministers that NS2 would be commissioned swiftly on 13 December. The project \u201chas been completed, let\u2019s use it as well now,\u201d Schallenberg <\/span>added<\/b><\/a>. One day later, Austrian Chancellor <\/span>Karl Nehammer<\/b><\/a> added that he expected NS2 to be commissioned swiftly. Schallenberg and Nehammer both questioned\u2014even denied\u2014that there should be any connection between Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and NS2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Considering the turbulence of the NS2 dossier over Baerbock\u2019s first month in office, it might be interesting to look ahead to get an idea of the challenges connected to the pipeline that she will undoubtedly face in 2022 and beyond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Internationally, both postponing and pushing through the commissioning of NS2 could cause friction. On the one hand, <\/span>the Austrian calls<\/b><\/a> to commission NS2 could be joined by more countries, while on the other, countries such as <\/span>Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania<\/b><\/a> would see the project terminated today rather than tomorrow, particularly in case of further Russian territorial aggression towards Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n Within Germany, the most pressing issue seems to be the divergent opinions on NS2 within the new cabinet, especially between Die Gr\u00fcne<\/span> and Chancellor Scholz\u2019s <\/span>SPD <\/span><\/i>that was described earlier. Even though the coalition agreement remains vague on NS2, it is no secret that Baerbock\u2019s Green Party and Chancellor Scholz\u2019s SPD are diametrically opposed on the issue. This became visible during Scholz\u2019s first EU summit on <\/span>17 December<\/b><\/a> last year, where the Chancellor denied a link between the Ukraine crisis and the Baltic Sea pipeline – one of Baerbock\u2019s most fundamental objections against the project.<\/span><\/p>\n Even though <\/span>ARD<\/b><\/a> doubts that Baerbock would turn NS2 into a coalition breaker, casting it unlikely that Baerbock could influence the rest of the cabinet into blocking the project, <\/span>other voices<\/b><\/a> have argued that Die Gr\u00fcne<\/span> and the <\/span>SPD <\/span><\/i>\u201chave recently proved that they would push through their divergent positions.\u201d In other words, \u201cRussian President Putin has the power to plunge the [new] coalition into its first serious crisis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n With divergent stances towards NS2 at home and abroad, NS2 will undoubtedly stay one of the hotter issues on Baerbock\u2019s agenda. Will Baerbock and her party hold on to their environmental and geopolitical objections against the pipeline, especially when continued insecurity over the commissioning of NS2 will likely yield new record-high European gas prices? Will chancellor Scholz <\/span>sanction NS2<\/b><\/a> in case of renewed Russian aggression towards Ukraine, as was suggested by <\/span>Latvian PM Karins<\/b><\/a>, or will Scholz cling to his view that NS2 is \u201c<\/span>a purely private-sector project<\/b><\/a>?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During the 2021 German Federal Election campaign, German Green Party candidate Annalena Baerbock repeatedly came out as a staunch opponent of the then near-complete North Stream 2 (NS2) gas pipeline. Baerbock\u2019s party Die Gr\u00fcne even promised to terminate the project should it win the elections – not an unrealistic electoral scenario given the polls at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":8552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[983,4,18],"tags":[868,1694,866,124],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-8491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","category-politics","category-russia","tag-germany","tag-green-politics","tag-nord-stream-2","tag-russia"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cAB\u201d in Contrast to Schr\u00f6der, Merkel, and Scholz<\/b><\/h5>\n
Putting the New <\/b>Au\u00dfenministerin<\/i><\/b>\u2019s Beliefs to the Test<\/b><\/h5>\n
Looking ahead: 2022 and beyond<\/b><\/h5>\n
Featured image: Die Gr\u00fcne and Nordstream 2 \/ Amanda Sonesson<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"