German political analyst Alexander Rahr has said that Annalena Berbock, the head of the German Foreign Ministry, expressed a great interest in Russian gas at the talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow
She had earlier wanted to turn the pipeline into a “ruin at the bottom of the Baltic Sea”, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz managed to change her mind.
“Berbock’s visit to Russia showed a very different thing. She did not say there would be no Nord Stream 2, on the contrary, she turned 180 degrees, or as they say, ‘changed her shoes'”, – Rahr said.
The expert believes that Berbock started to act as a representative of the constructive German diplomacy and not only the Green Party. It was her party that protested most vehemently against Nord Stream 2, even during the project discussions and the initial stages of construction.
“The German foreign minister said bluntly that they will need gas from Russia for many years to come and they want to be sure of a reliable supply”, – Alexander Rahr concluded.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has been completed and is ready to be commissioned. However, some political forces in Europe and the West are against this project. Due to this fact the certification of the gas pipeline is delayed, although the European countries have a great need of inexpensive gas, which can be supplied to them by Nord Stream 2.
Earlier Tim Köhler, director of German gas industry association Zukunft Gas, stated that Nord Stream 2 should be up and running by 2022