"Putin friends"? This is how the Greens attack the CDU over Russian gas
Something broke between the CDU/CSU and the Greens quite some time ago. The attacks by leading politicians from the CDU and CSU , who described Robert Habeck as the worst economics minister of all time or his party as the "main opponent," are unforgettable. Relations were already strained long before the federal election campaign, and the tone remains harsh to this day. But something has changed. Now it's the Greens who are attacking. And the CDU/CSU must explain itself.
Recently, the discussion has repeatedly centered on Russian gas deliveries to Germany, which could one day be resumed, and on the Nord Stream pipelines. The Greens, in their new role as opposition, are searching for weaknesses in the governing coalition and claim to have identified one in the CDU-SPD energy policy. Some even speak of a " Moscow connection" within the CDU. The list of accusations is growing.
Green Party MP Anton Hofreiter, for example, condemned as "scandalous" the move by his CDU colleague Thomas Bareiß, who at the end of March openly considered a return to Nord Stream 2. On the social network LinkedIn, Bareiß had written about the period after the Ukraine war: "Of course, gas can flow again, perhaps this time in a pipeline under US control." Andreas Audretsch, then deputy parliamentary group leader of the Green Party, called for the CDU politician's exclusion from the coalition negotiations.
Days later, Katrin Göring-Eckardt , one of the most prominent Greens, reacted to an interview with Thuringian Minister-President Mario Voigt in the Berliner Zeitung . In it, the CDU politician described Russian gas deliveries in the coming years as "conceivable," but the war must end first. "Gas from Russia has made us massively dependent on Putin and on fossil fuels," Göring-Eckardt retorted on X. "It's madness to want to go back there."
And then there's the recurring outrage over Michael Kretschmer . The Minister-President of Saxony advocates a return to Russian gas more clearly than any other Christian Democrat. He recently suggested using the reactivation of Nord Stream to initiate talks with Moscow. Germany could obtain 20 percent of its gas from Russia, Kretschmer said. The dependency that existed before the war in Ukraine would then no longer exist. "According to Kretschmer's logic, we should continue to fill Putin's war chest," said Green Party MP Michael Kellner. "No one in their right mind could want that."
Scandal, madness – no sense or reason? Bareiß and Kretschmer, as well as North Rhine-Westphalian CDU state politician Jan Heinisch, who also refused to rule out Russian gas after a "just and secure peace," are "Putin friends," judged Green Party parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann. She spoke of a "revival of the Moscow connection" among the Christian Democrats. But does it even exist? And if so, how far does it extend?
Green Party politician Joswig: “We will not allow this to happen again”
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the German government radically changed its energy policy. Previously, Germany had imported more than half of its gas from Russia; even gas storage facilities were in Russian hands. When Moscow shut down the Nord Stream pipelines, the traffic light coalition looked for new energy sources to avoid future dependence. Under no circumstances, was the credo, should this war be financed with money from Germany. Habeck, the then Economics Minister and a star of the Green Party, traveled to Qatar to initiate an LNG deal. In the years to come, Germany obtained a large part of its gas supplies from Norway . The share of Russian gas reaching the EU shrank significantly.
The big question is whether it will stay that way. Or whether Germany, should peace finally prevail in Ukraine, will renew economic ties with Russia; whether Russian gas will then also be an issue.
A few days ago, the Bundestag debated a motion by the Green Party calling on the government to rule out the restart of Nord Stream. This was somewhat surprising. After all, there is no minister who supports this, or at least nothing of the sort is known. During the plenary debate, Greens repeatedly spoke up, asking their CDU colleagues what the coalition's position on Nord Stream was. As if they were on to something. At the very least, the questions, including the motion itself, testified to skepticism toward the government—despite the fact that there is no indication that this coalition is changing direction.
Julian Joswig is one of the signatories of the petition. The Green Party MP from Rhineland-Palatinate sits on the Bundestag's Energy Committee. Every euro that Germany spends on Russian gas finances the war, Joswig told the Berliner Zeitung. "Nevertheless, prominent politicians from the CDU/CSU are once again advocating for supplies from Moscow, and individual SPD voices are also open to it." The grand coalition has already led the country into this dependency once, says the Green Party member, "and we will not allow it to happen again." In fact, it was his party that warned against Nord Stream even before the Russian invasion.
Now the Greens claim to have found a gap in the coalition's energy policy. A gap created by the phase-out of nuclear power and the shift away from coal. "The new government is planning 20 gigawatts of additional gas-fired power plants, but isn't saying which reliable sources the gas will come from," Joswig emphasizes. "Instead of old dependencies, we need renewables that will make our country more independent and secure." The dispute is also fundamental – the expansion of renewable energies, a key concern of the Greens, doesn't appear to be a priority for the new government.
Russian gas is not an issue at all, says the Union faction
So far, however, statements by Michael Kretschmer and Thomas Bareiß have been exceptions within the CDU/CSU. This can certainly be said for the party's prominent figures. Last week, when Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited Berlin, the Chancellor spoke out against restarting Nord Stream 2. The government will "do everything to ensure that Nord Stream 2 cannot be restarted," said Friedrich Merz. The pipelines of Nord Stream 1 were destroyed in an attack in September 2022.
The CDU/CSU says that a resumption of Russian gas deliveries has not been a topic of discussion in the Bundestag parliamentary group so far. The Chancellor and his government's position is clear, and the Greens, who are now demanding commitments, are simply trying to cause unrest.
At the federal level, CDU politicians oppose the idea of using Nord Stream 2 as an offer of talks to Vladimir Putin. "We must not send the wrong signals to Moscow now," Knut Abraham, a member of the Bundestag from Brandenburg, told this newspaper. "Putin's war makes any thought of normal economic relations with Russia impossible."
CDU politician Scheffler: “Who will come to power in Russia after Putin?”
The debate over Russian gas is complex. Moral and security policy dimensions overlap. Anyone who purchases Russian gas now is complicit in war crimes, the accusation goes – and potentially strengthens Russia for further wars. Then there's the temporal dimension: Some are making a fair peace agreement a prerequisite for new contracts with Russia. Others would prefer not to receive Russian energy even then.
And finally, there's one thing that's completely unpredictable. No one can say who will rule Moscow after the war ends. Not for the coming decades, not even for the day after.
So, there's a whole spectrum of attitudes toward Russia, ranging from sympathy for Putin to hostility toward Putin. However, these attitudes are often drowned out in the heated debate about the war. "As long as this war continues, we don't have to think about Russian gas," CDU politician Michael Scheffler told this newspaper. He is a member of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt and energy policy spokesman for his parliamentary group. "But there will be a time after this," he adds. "Who will come to power in Russia after Putin? How will energy prices develop without Nord Stream?"
These are key questions when discussing the energy supply of the future. "There must be no taboos. In a free country, we must also be able to talk about gas from Russia without insulting each other." Scheffler emphasizes that state premiers Kretschmer and Voigt are no friends of Putin. "But I wonder whether voters are even interested in these moral trench battles." In his region, the Saalekreis district, there are many villages and private homes, and old buildings. People have old oil and gas heating systems, and they are suffering from energy prices.
"We have to do what's best for the country. I can't imagine doing without Russian gas forever," says Scheffler. But that's out of the question during this war.
His state parliament colleague Alexander Räuscher also speaks out against Russian gas imports during the Ukraine war. At the same time, he says: "It was a good thing that Germany didn't become an agrarian state after World War II." The US Marshall Plan advanced the country after World War II. "It will benefit no one if Russia bleeds to death after this war and Germany suffers from high energy prices."
As an entrepreneur, he once transferred millions of euros in foreign currency to Russia. "The day after the outbreak of the war of aggression, I called my customers and canceled the business, in view of the sanctions. This caused me great financial damage at the time, but I couldn't morally reconcile it," says the CDU politician. His company, Antares Holz GmbH, which sourced most of its goods from Russia, had to cease "business operations" afterward, Räuscher explains.
Meanwhile, the Greens suspect that the mood in the black-red coalition government could change as soon as peace in Ukraine becomes apparent – that more federal politicians from the CDU/CSU and SPD would then want to return to Russian gas.
Berliner-zeitung
