Overview
- Testifying in Schwerin on Friday, Olaf Scholz appeared as a witness before the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern parliamentary committee probing decisions around Nord Stream 2.
- He confirmed sending a 2020 letter to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin proposing German public backing for LNG terminals and more US gas imports if Washington eased sanctions threats, noting the Chancellery’s involvement and that the effort failed.
- Scholz said Germany’s long reliance on Russian gas was a mistake and that he had pushed for LNG capacity years earlier, with import sites now operating in Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel, Stade and Mukran.
- He emphasized that the state climate foundation—endowed with €20 million from Nord Stream 2 AG to facilitate completion under sanction pressure—was treated by the federal government as a matter for the state.
- He recounted blocking Nord Stream 2’s operating permit in February 2022 after Russia’s invasion, and the committee now plans further witness hearings, including Christian Pegel and Manuela Schwesig.