Once expressed ambivalently
Amthor: Schwesig’s change of heart is unbelievable
4/14/2022 3:04 p.m
A year and a half ago, Philipp Amthor spoke out against halting the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which lands in his constituency. Now the CDU politician is referring to Schwesig’s spontaneous metamorphosis from the Russian advertising icon to the alleged “Mother Teresa”.
The CDU member of the Bundestag Philipp Amthor has questioned the admission of errors by the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, in her handling of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. “Your spontaneous metamorphosis from a Russian advertising icon to the alleged Mother Teresa is completely unbelievable,” said the CDU politician to the “Bild” newspaper. He therefore asked the SPD politician to “finally come clean and explain why the SPD Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania threw itself in the dust so submissively in front of Russian corporations”.
Amthor, who comes from the federal state, had positioned himself ambivalently about the internationally controversial German-Russian project in the past. A Facebook post in early September 2020 said: “I have by no means advocated halting the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is due to land in my constituency. I have instead stated that completion of the project from the Russian side is not considered confirmation of their current course.” Shortly before, a poison attack had been carried out on the Russian opposition politician Alexej Navalny. Navalny, who was imprisoned after his return to Russia, was then treated at the Berlin Charité and survived.
Since the weekend, new details about the cooperation between the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the pipeline operator have become known. Specifically, this is about the establishment of the controversial climate foundation MV, which supported the construction and was largely financed with money from Russian gas businesses. Its founding was approved by the state parliament in 2021, with the consent of the then coalition partner of the Social Democrats in Schwerin, the CDU – which, with Harry Glawe, also provided the Economics Minister and Katy Hoffmeister, the Minister of Justice responsible for foundation supervision.