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BERLIN, February 5 / TASS /. Gerhard Schröder, who was Federal Chancellor from 1998 to 2005, believes that his country needs the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia because otherwise it will not be able to meet its energy needs during the time of the energy turnaround.
“We already have Nord Stream 1, which transports 55 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia to [the northern German state of] Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. And we need the second line, “he told the television station Phoenix and added that this additional gas supply route was necessary for Germany due to the planned phase-out of nuclear and coal-fired power generation.
“It is clear that we should rely on renewable energies. However, there will not be enough in the foreseeable future to supply our economy with energy at an affordable price,” he said. “In the transition period of 10, 20 or 30 years – nobody can say for sure – we will need gas, the only sensible and environmentally clean traditional energy source.”
“And we have to ask ourselves: where are we taking it?” continued the ex-chancellor.
In his opinion, Russian gas delivered through pipelines is the only sensible way to get it. US gas produced by hydraulic fracturing is “more expensive and of poor quality” and less environmentally friendly, according to the former German leader.
“It seems to me that there is too much ideology here,” he said, adding that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project should not be linked to the situation around blogger Alexei Navalny. “Why is there a connection between issues that are unrelated? What can be common between Nord Stream 2 and the Navalny case?” he asked rhetorically, describing this approach as a mistake.
The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of two gas pipeline strings with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year from the Russian coast to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The gas pipeline is 94% complete to date. After the incident with the Russian blogger Navalny, several German politicians called for the implementation of the project to be stopped.
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