Sigmar Gabriel, who served as economic minister and then German Foreign Minister under former Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2013 2018, held a hearing on November 7 before an investigation committee considering the possibility of Russia exercising influence on a German fund involved in the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
The fund was established in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines are located in Germany.
Despite deniing that the federal government work closely and regularly with the fund, Mr. Gabriel admitted that he had made mistakes in his handling of Russia, calling it one of the biggest mistakes in German foreign policy I have ever made.
The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern parliamentary investigation committee is tasked with clarifying whether Russia is affected by the establishment of a fund that has helped complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project by 2021.
The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines were built to transport Russian gas across the Baltic Sea to Western Europe via Germany. These gas pipelines have been hotly contested since before the conflict broke out in Ukraine.
The first pipeline - Nord Stream - began operating in 2011, while plans for Nord Stream 2 were still being pushed after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014,
On November 7, Sigmar Gabriel, who has been a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) for many years, defended the government's then-day decision to continue the Nord Stream 2 project despite Russia's move to Crimea, saying the suspension of the project could harm negotiations in the conflict.
The main goal has always been to ensure gas supplies to Germany, and after the liberzation of the energy market, this is considered a "private sector problem," Sigmar Gabriel noted.
However, Nord Stream 2 has never been put into operation due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russia has also stopped supplying gas via the Nord Stream pipeline after the West imposed sanctions.
Both Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 were later damaged in the explosions in September 2022. A group of Ukrainians are suspected of being behind the Nord Stream sabotage.
Former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will lead the center-left government from 2021 to 2024, is scheduled to speak before the committee on November 21. The committee is expected to announce the investigation results in 2026.
