Nord Stream 2: german politicians blame chancellor Merkel for high energy prices

 Several politicians blamed the hiking energy on Merkel's inactivity and naivity in dealing with russian president Putin, thus enabling him to blackmail Europeans with gas prices, writes german newspaper BILD: 

The signs couldn't have been clearer.

For years, experts and politicians, who know how Russia repeatedly uses energy as a weapon, have warned that the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea will come with a political price. Not only for Ukraine, but above all for Germany.

Doubling the Russian-German gas transport capacity by bypassing all European partners would not result in a diversification of the sources of supply, as Chancellor Merkel and her foreign and economic ministers have been claiming for years. Instead, it creates one-sided dependencies, gives Putin influence over German politics and, above all, the power to freeze ourselves and others if we don't play by his rules.

But Angela Merkel (67) ignored all warnings.

Even when the completion of Nord Stream 2 was about to begin in the summer and Putin began to implement his plan, Merkel did what she did so often in crisis situations over the years - nothing.

► Nothing happened when Russia's state gas giant Gazprom announced in June that from October it would only feed half as much gas into the “Yamal” pipe via Belarus and Poland.

► Nothing happened when Gazprom announced in August that it would also drastically reduce additional bookings through Ukraine from October.

► Even when the Kremlin announced just one week after the completion of the Baltic Sea pipeline in September that “the fastest possible commissioning of Nord Stream 2 would of course compensate for natural gas prices in Europe”, Merkel did nothing to avert the impending catastrophe at the last second .

Today gas at the European trading point in the Netherlands costs twice as much as when the extortion tube was completed five weeks ago, and Vladimir Putin only made it clear on Wednesday that without the commissioning of Nord Stream 2, "the tensions on the European energy market" would persist .

What threatens is an extremely expensive winter, for which experts hold the Chancellor partly responsible.

"Germany's precarious situation results from various wrong decisions by the governments under Ms. Merkel," says Ostpolitik expert Jan Behrends (51) from the Leibniz Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam. These include "the hasty nuclear phase-out, the construction of the Nord Stream pipelines and the failed policy on Russia," the Russia expert told BILD.

The Eastern Europe expert Renata Alt (56, FDP) also goes tough with the Chancellor in court.

She told BILD: “The current gas price explosion is not least due to the naivety of the two grand coalitions under Angela Merkel's chancellorship. Anyone who sows naivety in dealing with Vladimir Putin's system will reap dependency and an energy crisis. "

Alt further criticized the outgoing Chancellor: “For a project that has no added value for Germany, Ms. Merkel has jeopardized our relations with EU partners such as Poland and the Baltic states. There is nothing to explain this ingratiation to Russia and nothing to excuse. "

Nord Stream 2: is Gazprom blackmailing Germany with gas price?

As previously reported, experts warned for years  that Gazprom could use its dominant position as a gas supplier to blackmail Germany and other european states. 

According to expertes, this is what is happening right now. Now that the pipeline is fully constructed, there is still an operating license pending and the question of conformity with EU laws is unsolved before the pipeline is ready-to-use. However Gazprom presses forward to get the pipeline operational as soon as possible and points to hiking gas prices writes german newspaper BILD:

Bad news from Moscow for German gas customers!

A few days after the completion of the Russian Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2, it becomes clear: Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the pipe precisely for what experts have warned about for years. He blackmailed Germany and Europe. Anyone who does not play according to the rules of the state company Gazprom pays heavily or even has to freeze in winter.

First comeuppance: the price for Russian natural gas in Europe has already risen by a staggering 444 percent in the last twelve months.

A price increase that experts attribute to a large extent to the artificial reduction in imports by Russia's state-owned company Gazprom.

Explosive: Germany is more dependent on Russian gas than ever before. 55 percent of the natural gas burned in this country comes from Putin's empire.

Bad news from Moscow for German gas customers!

A few days after the completion of the Russian Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2, it becomes clear: Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the tube for exactly what experts have warned about for years. He blackmailed Germany and Europe. Anyone who does not play according to the rules of the state company Gazprom pays heavily or even has to freeze in winter.

First receipt: the price for Russian natural gas in Europe has already risen by a staggering 444 percent in the past twelve months.

A price increase that experts attribute in large part to the artificial reduction in imports by Russia's state-owned company Gazprom.

Explosive: Germany is more dependent on Russian gas than ever before. 55 percent of the natural gas burned in this country comes from Putin's empire.

Russia's gas giant Gazprom has not only reduced transit to Europe to a contractually agreed minimum through Ukraine - since the summer, significantly less gas has been flowing through the Yamal gas pipeline to Germany via Poland than would be necessary to ensure medium-term supply.

The result: Germany's natural gas storage facilities are currently only 63 percent full. Last year at this time it was 94 percent.

In addition, in July, for the first time in the history of the Yamal pipeline, Gazprom no longer took part in the auction of transport capacities for the next few years.

That is why experts warned in the summer that Gazprom would make Germany’s further inexpensive gas supply dependent on the commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea tube. And that although the pipeline does not currently meet the requirements of the EU and therefore has neither a certification by the Federal Network Agency nor a permit to start operations by the authorities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

A horror scenario that came true this week.

Nobody less than Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskow now declared in Moscow: "Of course, the fastest possible commissioning of Nord Stream 2 will largely offset the natural gas prices in Europe."

To put it plainly: If Nord Stream 2 still does not go online after its completion because the Russians do not want to submit to European gas directives, the price for gas will continue to rise dramatically in our country.

Experts fear that too.

It is possible "that Russia and Gazprom are strategically and deliberately restricting exports to Europe (...) in order to influence and accelerate the decision-making process of the German and European authorities regarding the certification of Nord Stream 2", says Tom Marzec-Manser , leading gas expert at ICIS, opposite the "Tagesspiegel".

The US energy expert and senior researcher at the Center for European Policy Analyzes (CEPA) Benjamin Schmitt emphasizes that “Gazprom's undersupply of European gas storage facilities over existing routes such as Ukraine and Poland has contributed to the market pressure in recent months we see today ”.

Schmitt told BILD that leading experts in the field agreed that "the Kremlin will use the situation to force the EU to quickly certify Nord Stream 2". Meanwhile, according to gas expert Schmitt, Russian officials are also saying out loud "that a quick approval of Nord Stream 2 later this year could alleviate a potential energy crisis".

This also means: If Nord Stream 2 does not go live on time according to Moscow's terms, there could be serious - planned - delivery bottlenecks in the coming winter.