From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 4/7/2006 2:25 PM
German Chancellor Angela Merkel / Photo: AP
German Chancellor Angela Merkel / Photo: AP
Speculations About Germany’s Dependence on Russian Gas Harm German Economy — Paper
07.04.2006
MosNews
German businessmen and politicians have warned that criticism of Moscow and alarmist theories about Germany’s dependence on Russian gas were harming Germany’s economic interests, the Financial Times reported.
As Russia’s role as both energy supplier and export market expands, Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming under pressure to bury her misgivings about President Vladimir Putin’s regime and adopt a friendlier tone.
“It is not in Germany’s interest to rock this particular relationship,” a government official said, alluding to this week’s uproar over ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s move to joinGazprom, the Russian monopoly gas supplier.
Ulrich Wilhelm, Merkel’s spokesman, would not be drawn on whether she and Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, had discussed the Schroeder controversy at a meeting in Berlin on April 6. But he said the episode had “not burdened a relationship that is flourishing and that we intend to develop”.
The tone was a far cry from Merkel’s stern warning, at the height of Gazprom’s price dispute with Ukraine in January, that Russia may have gambled away its reputation as a reliable gas supplier.
Such comments, said Klaus Mangold, head of the BDI industry federation’s east Europe section, had “hurt sensitivities in Moscow”, which was unfortunate, given the strategic nature of the partnership.
While Russia provides Germany with 35 per cent of its oil and 40 per cent of its gas, it is also among the 10 largest export markets for German companies. Bilateral trade reached $47 billion last year, up 25 per cent on 2004, as German exports to Russia rose 15.4 per cent.
“Economically, the relationship matters not just because of gas,” Eckart von Klaeden, a member of parliament from Merkel’s CDU and the party’s foreign policy spokesman, told the FT. “Russia is undergoing rapid modernization and upgrading its infrastructure, which is a huge market for our companies.”
After some hesitation, Merkel’s government now admits Gazprom’s plans, to build a $6.2-billion gas pipeline from Siberia to northern Germany in partnership with Germany’s Eon and BASF, are vital to Germany’s energy needs.
This explains why, although many members of the ruling coalition continue to object to Schroeder becoming chairman of the North-European Gas Pipeline Company, most have remained silent.
“Schroeder did this country a great service by backing the pipeline,” said a political appointee in Berlin. “But why did he have to go and work for them, of all companies?”
Tension rose at the weekend when it emerged that Schroeder’s government had granted Gazprom a $1.2-billion credit guarantee last October — after he was voted out of office, but before he stepped down in November.
The ensuing media outcry is understood to have ruffled feathers in Moscow, as suggested by a curt statement from Gazprom, saying that, “as the world’s largest gas exporter and a first-class debtor”, it had no need for credit guarantees.
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2006/04/07/germanyrussia.shtml
