Because Scholz doesn’t do too much Amerikan on Nord Stream 2
Germany will do everything to prevent the completed billionaire Nord Stream 2 project from falling into the cauldron of a geopolitical clash that Berlin does not understand and perhaps does not even share. The in-depth study by Pierluigi Mennitti from Berlin
The truth is often in the details, in the unspoken things. And to explicitly pronounce the name of Nord Stream 2, on the first day of Olaf Scholz's trip to the United States, it is not him, the invisible chancellor, but Joe Biden, in the joint press conference. If Russia invades Ukraine, the pipeline is over: it would be "a strange project", literally says the American president.
Scholz instead uses turns of words, repeats what he said in recent days also in Berlin, and that is that if Russia invaded Ukraine it would also face economic reactions, but an explicit reference to Nord Stream 2 never does. Neither in the press conference, nor elsewhere, not even in an interview with CNN , in which he also demonstrated a good capacity for eloquence. The German attitude towards the controversial gas pipeline under the Baltic which should double the flow of gas from Russia to Germany, thus avoiding once and for all the pipes passing through Ukraine, remains ambiguous.
An ambiguity of form that clouds the clarity of the substance: despite the professions of Atlantic fidelity, Germany will do everything to prevent the painstakingly completed billionaire project from ending up in the cauldron of a geopolitical clash that Berlin, after all, does not understand. and perhaps it does not even share.
Among the German newspapers, the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the most shrewd and attentive newspaper in foreign policy issues, notes this most clearly, which in the commentary on Scholz's first American day highlights how the chancellor "despite having sworn on unity with the United States, has left room for interpretation precisely on the most dangerous point in domestic politics for Biden ”. Nord Stream 2.
Rewinding the tape of the joint press conference, the difference is evident, in the tone and in the words chosen. Biden, direct: "If Russian tanks and soldiers cross the Ukrainian border there will be no Nord Stream 2 anymore". Scholz, more oblique: "With President Biden we have prepared intensely to be able to adopt sanctions, all the necessary ones, but it is also understandable not to put everything on the table so that Russia knows that there is also more to come". Merkel method, one might say. There is no doubt that, with the change of leader, Berlin has not lost its Mr. Thin at the chancellery.
In front of the scenes it was instead a meeting full of courtesies and exchanges of smiles, with mutual assurances of fidelity and alliance, useful for both leaders to dispel signs of deeper divergences in the face of public opinion. If in recent weeks the German press had highlighted the country's loss of international credibility in the face of the new government's hesitation on the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the first direct impact between Biden and Scholz has put things back in order. "Total, complete and absolute" is the reliability of Germany in the eyes of the American president, who even in the official images in front of the fireplace offered to the press wanted to mark cordiality and affability towards his guest, as if to underline the distance from impudent coldness flaunted by his predecessor Donald Trump to Angela Merkel.
Also for Scholz, who arrived in Washington on the wave of growing internal criticism, the first stage of a demanding week on the foreign front, was a success. Photos and interviews in the Washington Post , balm for a politician who needs to make himself known, then a quarter of an hour interview with CNN , in fluent and refined English, as expected of a Hanseatic politician (the Hamburgers are considered a bit the British of Germany).
But Olaf Scholz's international weight is still to be built and the week that has just opened will be an important moment. On Wednesday in Berlin he will receive Macron (who has just returned from Russia, where he met Putin) and the Polish President Duda. Then it will be the turn of the quadrilateral with the leaders of the Baltic countries. Finally, the double stop in Kiev and Moscow, to reassure the Ukrainians enraged by the German refusal to send weapons and to have a face-to-face discussion with Putin .
To prevent the name of Nord Stream 2 from returning to Biden and those who would like to block the project again, Scholz must ensure that Moscow leaves its troops where they are, across the Ukrainian border. Berlin is basically sure of this, it does not believe that Putin has an interest in forcing his hand. But it can no longer hide the fact that in the East, a couple of hundred kilometers from its eastern border, geopolitics has resumed shuffling the cards.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/scholz-biden-vertice/ on Tue, 08 Feb 2022 08:19:02 +0000.