The new German government will not oppose the certification of Nord Stream 2, Kirill Rodionov, an expert of the Institute for the Development of Fuel and Energy Technologies, told RIA Novosti
Elections to the Bundestag, which will form a new government and nominate a new chancellor, will be held on September 26. According to social polls, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) leads with 26%. About 22% of respondents gave their preference to the bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian-Social Union (CSU).
In the expert’s opinion, the SPD’s leadership is largely due to the figure of current Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz. Earlier, the politician repeatedly stressed the importance of completing the Nord Stream 2 project.
“In this regard, Scholz is unlikely to oppose the pipeline certification process that has already begun, even if the Greens join the ruling coalition – 17 percent of respondents surveyed by FGW favored such a coalition. Even if the ruling coalition changes, Germany is unlikely to give up on Nord Stream 2,” Rodionov noted.
He added that Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline is objectively beneficial to Germany because even if only half of the pipeline’s capacity is used, Berlin will become an important European transit hub.
“At the same time, the commissioning of the gas pipeline will require the construction of gas distribution infrastructure, which will lead to the creation of thousands of jobs in a number of German federal states. And this, accordingly, means additional electoral votes, which the SPD is unlikely to want to lose in the context of future regional and federal elections”, – Rodionov summarized.