https://www.rferl.org/a/germany-offered-u-s-dirty-deal-on-nord-stream-2-eco-group-claims/31094347.html
February 9, 2021
An environmental and consumer protection group says
the German government offered U.S. President Donald Trump's administration
financial support of up to 1 billion euros ($1.21 billion) in a bid to prevent
Washington from imposing sanctions on the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
According to a document published by Environmental
Action Germany (DUH) on February 9, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz offered
the funds for the import of U.S. liquefied natural gas in a personal letter
addressed to his counterpart at the time, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
It was dated August 7, 2020, and included the offer in
an attached "non-paper."
Sascha Mueller-Kraenner, the DUH executive director,
called it a "scandal" and a "dirty deal at the expense of third
parties."
According to the paper, the German government offered
to invest in developing LNG terminals in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbuettel on
Germany's North Sea coastline.
In return, Washington was allegedly asked to permit
the "unhindered construction and operation of Nord Stream 2," a
Baltic Sea pipeline set to double deliveries of natural gas from Russia to
Germany.
The Finance Ministry in Berlin did not initially
comment on the matter, although a spokesman said a statement was being
prepared.
The pipeline, which is nearing completion, is intended
to carry 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany,
but work was halted in December 2020 following the threat of sanctions from
Washington.
The United States and several European countries have
said the pipeline will increase Europe's energy dependency on Russia, bypass
Ukraine, and deny Kyiv a lucrative source of transit revenue.
About 150 kilometers of pipe transiting Danish and
German waters must be laid to complete pipeline controlled by the Russian
state-owned energy giant Gazprom.
U.S. President Joe Biden has called Nord Stream 2 a
"bad deal for Europe."
