The Greens are trying to derail the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 pipeline because they don’t care about German interests and only do the bidding of the US, Max Otte, economist and member of Chancellor Merkel’s CDU party, told RT.
The latest polls predict that the Greens may claim 20% of the vote and come second – behind the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – in the German federal election on September 24.
The party has promised to curb the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will allow Russian gas to flow directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea, making it cheaper compared to delivering it from the US. The project that has already cost 9.5 billion euros is currently more than 95% complete. The Greens claim that the pipeline has “climate and energy implications,” while also infringing on the interests of Ukraine. Kiev may well lose transit money when the new route bypassing the Ukrainian territory is used to deliver gas to Europe.
Instead of pointing toward Ukraine, the Greens should better care about German and EU interests, Otte argued. Germany is now trying to move away from nuclear energy and coal, so it’s essential for the country to have diverse and reliable sources of natural gas, like Nord Stream 2, he explained.
The Green Party is acting contrary to the interests of their own country because they are “an arm of the US internationalist elite,” the CDU politician insisted.
Demanding the shutdown of the Nord Stream 2 construction is one of the few policies of Donald Trump that the new US administration of Joe Biden decided to continue. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently reiterated the threat of sanctions against the European companies involved in the project
But despite this, the Green Party has “good chances” in the federal election and could even end up appointing the next German chancellor, Otte acknowledged.
One of the reasons for that is the decline of the CDU as the German people are angry over the Covid-19 lockdown and the “total chaos” in the vaccination campaign, blaming the ruling party for it, he pointed out.
The Christian Democrats already took a major hit in the state elections earlier this month, losing ground in two crucial states, while the Greens only strengthened their positions.
“Germany has never been that polarized in its post-war history. We have a gap between rich and poor; country and city; young and old; left and right; nationalists and patriots.”
The Green Party is capitalizing on this division, while also setting the agenda on Covid-19, green energy and other issues that interest the public right now. “And many people are following them out of purely emotional reasons.”
As for Nord Stream 2 and other pressing geopolitical issues, “Germans don’t think about those… and probably they won’t think about it – at least, not in total – before it’s too late,” Otte regretted.
However, he expressed hope that the pipeline, which is also supported by many in German political circles, will be completed before the election, making it much harder for the Greens to act against it even if they do well in the vote.
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