Germanyʼs new Chancellor Friedrich Merz is "actively" supporting the EUʼs proposed ban on the “Nord Stream” gas pipeline connecting Russia to Germany, seeking to stop any US and Russian efforts to restore the gas connection.
This is reported by the Financial Times, citing its own sources.
Sources say that a Financial Times report in March about Kremlin-linked Russian and American businessmen wanting to restart private pipelines prompted Merz to begin talks with officials in Berlin and Brussels about how to prevent this.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week mentioned Nord Stream as part of a “new sanctions package” her team is working on.
The FT sources say the new EU restrictions will also target the Swiss company Nord Stream 2 AG, which owns the pipelines. The restrictions will also apply to any other companies, including Russian ones, if they are needed to restart and operate the pipelines. The sanctions will be imposed if every country in the bloc supports them.
Earlier this week, Merz’s government said it supported the ban as part of a forthcoming European Union sanctions package against Russia. FT sources say the chancellor has sought to stifle any internal debate over the merits of a potential reactivation.
Sources told the FT that if “Nord Stream” is added to the EU sanctions list, it “potentially removes a political problem for him”. Another official noted that for the German chancellor it is also a way to “Europeanize” the fate of the pipeline so that in the future the possible pressure from the US and Russia is not a problem only for Germany. After all, Berlin will have to provide a certificate for any activation of the gas connection.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has been gaining support in Germany, has called for the pipelines to be reopened, saying the eurozoneʼs largest economy is struggling with high energy prices and stagnation.
Such views in Germany are also supported by some business leaders and politicians from Merzʼs center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and his center-left coalition partners, the Social Democrats.
In March, Michael Kretschmer, the prime minister of the eastern German state of Saxony, who is a member of the CDU, said that maintaining punitive measures against Moscow was “absolutely outdated and completely out of line with what the Americans are doing now”.
Prime Minister of the East German state of Brandenburg from the SPD party Dietmar Wojdke called for the normalization of Germanyʼs trade relations with Russia after the conclusion of a peace treaty.
At the same time, the Green Party accuses major German parties of having remnants of "Moscow ties".
What preceded
Various Western media outlets have reported that the US may relax some sanctions against Russia in order to reach a peace agreement. In particular, Reuters, citing sources, noted that the White House is looking into options for a possible relaxation of sanctions against Russia. At the same time, Bloomberg, citing sources, wrote that the US will not lift sanctions against Russia in the absence of noticeable changes in Moscowʼs behavior. But it is possible that some of them will be relaxed if the Russians begin to take the measures that the US seeks.
Politico also wrote about the alleged knowledge of the sanctions. Media sources claimed that it was Trumpʼs special representative Steve Witkoff who was the main supporter of lifting the sanctions. In particular, as part of these efforts, he allegedly instructed his team to compile a list of all energy sanctions that the United States had imposed on Russia. At the same time, the media noted that this idea has not yet found much popularity in the White House, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has tried to thwart it.
Later, Rubio himself denied media reports that the United States was working to lift sanctions on “Nord Stream 2” and other Russian energy assets.
- “Nord Stream 2” was laid in two strands along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. They were supposed to bring Russian gas to Germany through the maritime territories of the Russian Federation, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. According to the plan, the length of the pipeline is over 1 200 km, and the capacity is 55 billion cubic meters per year.
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