German
Bundestag, September 11, 2020, Plenarprotokoll 19/174, pp. 21912-21913.
Frau
President. Honored colleagues. Dear countrymen.
There
is no end to the series of accusations against Russia. Every effort will be
made to revive fear of the evil fiend of the East and to please the allied partners
of the West.
The
present discussions concerning the attack on Alexei Navalny are subject to a fundamental
weakness: A lack of conclusive proof permitting a substantive assignment of
guilt. Up to today in this case, there are more open than clarified questions:
Why should the Kremlin attempt the murder of an opponent and then agree to his
transfer to Germany? And why exactly should be used the same neurotoxin which
after all did not work in the case of Skripal?
Apropos
the neurotoxin: It is said that it belonged to the Nowitschok group. Can it
then only be acquired from Russia and from Russians? Clearly not. A Bundeswehr
special laboratory has analyzed the materials [Kampfmitteln]. Why was not commissioned a second test institution,
independent of the state? That would reinforce the results and remove the Bundeswehr
from the firing line of accusations; and thereby clearly cut a better figure on
the international stage.
Ladies
and gentlemen, the attack on Alexei Navalny requires an unconditional
clarification. Nevertheless, occasion will be taken to mingle it with
Germany’s energy policy. There are renewed threats of sanctions against Russia
and even of termination of the Nord Stream 2 project. Here, something new will
be forced open from old graves between East and West, and indeed on German soil
and with the assistance of the Federal government.
It
is especially bitter when personal profiling plays a role in the decisive
questions of war and peace in Europe.
Elisabeth Motschmann (CDU/CSU): As
by you!
Herr
Röttgen, we do know that you are a member of the board of directors of the
Atlantic Bridge and that you aspire to be CDU chairman. But please re-think the
consequences of your actions.
One
of which is: Germany will be yoked to the cart of the U.S. economy by the
Federal government and its stirrup-holders. That will provoke a further
escalation in the German-Russian relations. Do you wish to allow Europe to
again become a scene of war? On this account, are the sirens of world war to howl
again today? Ach nein, that has not
happened. Yet the most important question that we must ask ourselves is: To
whom is it of use when the Federal government betrays German interests? Cui bono?
Ladies
and gentlemen, I know I am not alone in my suspicion
Annalena Baerbock (Greens): Your
suspicion was of the Bundeswehr!
that
desperate effort are being made to stop the Nord Stream 2 project. It is
certainly long a thorn in the eye of the U.S.A. Instead, we shall now buy its
fracking gas. That appears to the Americans to be so important that a Bürgermeister
in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern received a visit from the White House.
The
price of this fracking gas is however much too high for us, and that in
multiple respects. First, it is clearly more expensive than Russian natural
gas. Second, it is also much dirtier. Finally, untold amounts of energy and
toxic chemicals are required to produce it. For that, “environmental murder” is
certainly no phrase.
Interestingly,
this present hour takes place at the request of the Greens – many thanks,
besides. But how green are you actually when it comes to fracking gas? Why did
your national chairman Robert Habeck, as assistant minister-president of
Schleswig-Holstein, support the construction of a discharge terminal for liquefied fracking gas?
Annalena Baerbock (Greens): He long
since no longer does.
The
energy supply in Germany is endangered by a premature withdrawal from brown
coal; of that, we are regularly informed by the AfD.
Joachim Pfeiffer (CDU/CSU): In the
main brown!
The
basic provision of the population is a duty of the state and it must be
secured. Nord Stream 2, at the least, offers energy security in the coming
decades.
Ladies and gentlemen, the current anti-Russian debates harm not only Russia but also ourselves.
We
in the eastern Federal states cannot afford any additional economic breakdown.
Exactly that will be attended to by successful cooperation in economic and
cultural exchange with our neighbors in the East. The AfD definitely rejects
renewed sanctions against Russia.
The
people in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern need Nord Stream 2 and deserve our Federal
German backing. Nord Stream 2 stands for a secure energy supply which makes
possible work and prosperity in disadvantaged regions. We can no longer afford
additional experiments in this area. What we as a land in the heart of Europe
can least afford is a unilateral partisanship which may drive Europe into war.
Many
thanks.
[trans: tem]
