the former Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble has chosen one Stop of Russian deliveries of gas and oil to Germany announced. The CDU politician told the “Welt am Sonntag”: “It’s going to be bitter, but I think we have to give up Russian gas and oil supplies as soon as possible. We must not always be the brakeman in the western alliance.” The Atlantic solidarity that Germany was allowed to enjoy is not a one-sided thing.
Schäuble, who used to be finance minister under then-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), at least partially defended his former boss against criticism of her Russia policy. Since the 1970s, awareness of tricky situations has dwindled. “It is therefore not entirely fair to criticize Angela Merkel’s role in the German-Russian energy partnership.”
However, it was a mistake that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was launched despite the occupation of Crimea by the Russians in 2014.