In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine published on November 22, Angela Merkel was asked why she did not arm Ukraine, strengthen Germany's defense capabilities, or exclude Russian gas during her tenure as German chancellor. "Today, many important aspects are being forgotten: For example, Ukraine and Poland have no fundamental objection to our importing Russian gas as long as the gas passes through their territory and they receive transit fees for this activity," Merkel pointed out.
The former German chancellor defended the decision to not stop importing Russian gas via the Nord Stream pipeline, saying that it would not have made much difference if Berlin had stopped buying Russian gas in 2014. She also noted that other countries are still buying Russian gas today.
“I consider it one of my tasks to ensure cheap gas for the German economy. We can now clearly see the consequences of high energy prices for the country,” she added.
Germany's economy has been in recession since 2023. Earlier this week, Der Spiegel reported that rising costs and poor economic performance have led to a high rate of business bankruptcies in the country.
Angela Merkel served as German Chancellor from 2005 to 2021, during the early stages of the Ukrainian conflict when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
The two lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany were launched in 2012 and supplied about 16% of the EU's natural gas needs in 2018, meeting half of Germany's annual needs by 2021.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was built to add capacity to Nord Stream but never entered commercial operation due to German non-certification.
The Nord Stream explosion occurred in September 2022, causing two Nord Stream lines and one Nord Stream 2 line to rupture. To date, the culprit of this mysterious explosion has not been identified.
According to the Brussels-based Bruegel economic think tank, the EU still receives about 5% of its gas imports from Russia via Ukraine’s gas transit network. The gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expires on December 31.
