Berlin Contrary to the express will of the state parliament and state government, the former head of government Erwin Sellering (SPD) wants to continue the controversial climate protection foundation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The required dissolution is not possible under foundation law and for reasons of liability. The legal situation is clear. “For us as a foundation, a dissolution is off the table,” emphasized Sellering on Friday in Schwerin, referring to a report commissioned by the foundation’s board of directors from the Bochum legal scholar Katharina Uffmann.
The state foundation, which was founded in early 2021 and has since been managed by Sellering, has been heavily criticized. In addition to the public interest-oriented area of climate protection, it also included an economic area that helped the Russian state-owned company Gazprom to complete the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea, circumventing US sanctions. The line was completed in autumn 2021. The economic area is in liquidation, said Sellering. However, it is important to continue the work on climate protection. This is the “most important task of the century,” said Sellering.
Documents that have become public show that representatives of the Gazprom subsidiary Nord Stream had a direct influence on the drafting of the foundation’s statutes. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) had admitted that there were talks, but rejected reports that Nord Stream 2 AG had been in charge of founding the foundation. The foundation’s biggest donor was Nord Stream 2 with 20 million euros.
It is unclear how much of this will remain after a possible tax levy. According to Sellering, an examination is being carried out to determine whether the foundation is exempt from gift tax. The country itself gave 200,000 euros to the foundation.
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After the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the German government stopped the commissioning of the Russian-German gas pipeline. Schwesig also distanced herself from the project she had always supported before. She is also personally criticized for her pro-Russia course for a long time.
The CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen had suggested Schwesig’s resignation because of her connections with Russia, which the Prime Minister, however, rejected. Sellering described the allegations against Schwesig as irrelevant, unjustified and sometimes disgusting.
Greens call for dissolution of the climate foundation
The Greens have previously spoken out in favor of the immediate dissolution of the climate foundation set up by the Schwerin state government. “Nord Stream is dead. Now you can dissolve the state foundation immediately,” said the Greens’ federal chairman Omid Nouripour on Friday on Deutschlandfunk. Nouripour hopes this “happens as soon as possible”.
At the beginning of 2021, a climate foundation was set up in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to help complete the pipeline despite threats of US sanctions. As recently published documents show, Nord Stream 2 AG, with the Russian state-owned company Gazprom as the majority shareholder, was directly involved in the preparations for the foundation.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) had admitted that there were talks, but rejected reports that she had been in charge of founding the Nord Stream 2 foundation.
“It is true that there are still a few questions that need to be answered, especially in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,” said Nouripour. Including the question of whether the controversial climate foundation has to pay gift tax on the 20 million euros paid by Nord Stream 2 AG.
The Green chairman hopes that the controversial foundation will soon be dissolved.
(Photo: dpa)
A current report by the magazine “Cicero” not only brings up a possible tax liability of ten million euros, but also documents are said to have been lost and transactions without tax numbers were created. “You rub your eyes and wonder what this is supposed to be,” Nouripour said. The Greens hope that Schwesig will “actually answer these questions very, very soon”.
The CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen had previously suggested that Schwesig resign because of her connections with Russia, but the Prime Minister rejected this. However, the Greens leadership also sees mistakes on the part of the Union: “If we talk about the mistakes in Russia policy in the past, then we shouldn’t reduce it to the SPD. The CDU did a lot wrong with the chancellor at the top of this republic for 16 years,” said Nouripour.
One or the other attack on the SPD would also assume a “distraction from one’s own misconduct”, according to the Green leader.
More: The SPD’s involvement in Russia: Olaf Scholz needs a liberation