Two reports are currently causing a stir in Germany. As the “Spiegel” reports, citing classified information, the CIA warned the German government in the summer of an attack on the pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Several “acquaintances with the case” confirmed this. Despite the warning, an attack apparently went unopposed.
As the “Spiegel” continues to write, the day after incidents became known in the gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 leading from Russia to Germany, the federal government assumed a targeted attack. Germany did not comment on the CIA’s warning. A government spokesman said that “in principle no public statement is made on matters related to intelligence findings or activities of the intelligence services”.
“The federal government did not want to see the reality”
Only: why has the German government not taken protective measures in response to the warning from the US? Political expert Stefan Meister (47) tells Blick: “The government did not respond to the warning from the American secret service because it was not interested in it.”
She wanted to continue to buy cheap Russian pipeline gas because it was important to the German economic model. “The industry has lobbied for this and Russian-paid actors supported this policy in Berlin.” You didn’t want to give up your comfort zone. Meister: “The federal government under Chancellor Merkel did not want to see the reality and just wanted to believe that it could continue.” And: “It’s a mixture of naivety, opportunism and corruption.”
“I don’t regret my decisions”
The Mirror also reported on Thursday that former Chancellor Angela Merkel (68) has “no regrets” about the decision to build the pipelines. “From the perspective of the time, they were right,” Merkel said. She justified the decision by phasing out nuclear power. It was also “rational and understandable” to also buy pipeline gas from Russia, as it is cheaper than from other parts of the world.
The government stayed on track when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Merkel says Russia was a reliable energy supplier even during the Cold War. “It was also right to accelerate the fight against climate change again at the end of my term in office.” Russia’s “cruel attack” on Ukraine then caused a “rupture”.
“They didn’t want to make the expense”
Political expert Meister sees it differently. “Of course the alarm bells should have ringed after the annexation of Crimea,” he said with Blick. He wrote about it at the time, argued about it in interviews, and in consultation also said clearly what he could expect, just like a number of his colleagues. “But they didn’t want to bear the cost of structural change, because that might not be popular with the population and certain large German companies had a huge influence on politics.”
With regard to gas imports, Meister testifies to the German government’s “bankruptcy of Ostpolitik” and “irresponsibility regarding the creation of dependencies and the sale of strategic infrastructure such as gas storage facilities and refineries to Russian state-owned companies”. It’s about ignoring facts. “Anyone who says today we didn’t know everything didn’t want to know at the time.”