Overview
- Interior Minister Christian Pegel testified for about two hours before the Schwerin committee examining the 2021 Klimaschutzstiftung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, created as a shield for companies completing Nord Stream 2 under US sanction threats.
- He said the idea coalesced in summer 2020 talks with Nord Stream 2 representative Reinhard Ontyd and that he cannot recall who first used the term foundation.
- Pegel maintained he largely wrote the foundation’s statute himself, while considering suggestions he deemed sensible, including some from Nord Stream 2.
- He denied any influence by the Russian state or Gerhard Schröder and said the state government was not a tool of external interests.
- Former Nord Stream 2 chief Matthias Warnig previously testified the company initiated the plan and met Pegel and government leaders on 5 November 2020, with Minister-President Manuela Schwesig scheduled to testify on 5 December as the committee seeks to conclude work before next autumn’s state election.