Germany offers the US one billion euros to avert sanctions

---

The US is threatening sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea. In order to avert this, the German government has apparently promised the Americans a billion dollar payment: verbally and then in writing.

According to Zeit research, the federal government tried to save the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline with an offer worth billions. At the beginning of August, Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz ( SPD ) made his US counterpart Steven Mnuchin, first verbally and later also in writing, the proposal that Germany was ready to finance the construction of two special ports for the import of liquefied gas. US companies want to export American gas to Germany via the terminals in the ports of Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven.

In the written proposal, which went to Washington on August 7, the federal government promised to massively increase public support for the construction of the terminals by providing up to 1 billion euros. In July, the US government threatened to penalize companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2. One of the reasons for the American resistance is that US President Donald Trump wants to sell American gas to Germany instead of Russian gas. This requires the construction of several terminals.

For the billions in investment in the special ports, however, the federal government is demanding far reaching concessions from the US government. In return, the USA will allow the unhindered completion and operation of Nord Stream 2, says the written proposal from Berlin. The existing legal options for sanctions are not exhausted.

On September 24th and 25th, the EU heads of state will also discuss the future of the pipeline at their summit meeting in Brussels . After the poison attack on the Russian oppositionist Alexej Navalny, various politicians of the Union parties called for a construction freeze on Nord Stream 2.