AfD Calls for Nord Stream 2 to Be Turned On as Europe Braces for Energy Crisis ‘Worst-Case Scenario’

The European Union and Britain are already reeling from an energy crisis of a magnitude unseen since the 1973 Arab oil embargo after slapping a range of formal and informal restrictions on oil, gas, coal, and electricity sourced from Russia. Nord Stream, the last large pipeline pumping Russian gas to the EU, was shut down last week.

Lawmakers from Germany’s opposition Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party have called for negotiations with Russia on an equal footing, and urged Berlin to reverse course on Nord Stream 2 to stave off an energy disaster.

“We are an economic power, we have to be able to negotiate with both sides on an equal footing,” AfD Bundestag MP Stephan Protschka said at an event in Bavaria on Monday, clarifying that this applies to both Russia and the United States.

Christoph Maier, an AfD lawmaker in Bavaria’s state parliament, called on Berlin to take a series of emergency measures to deal with the energy crisis, including extending the operation of German nuclear power plants slated for closure, and activating Nord Stream 2.

The $10.5 billion pipeline, capable of pumping up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia to Germany via the bottom of the Baltic Sea, was completed and made ready for operation in late 2021, but frozen indefinitely in February, after Russia recognized the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as sovereign nations.

Nord Stream 2 is one of several major oil and gas pipelines pumping Russian energy to Europe to have suffered the consequences of sanctions and restrictions on Russia by the EU and the UK, which have plunged the region into a largely self-inflicted energy crisis.

Russian gas giant Gazprom turned off the taps of Nord Stream 1, which is also able to pump up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Germany, on August 31, citing maintenance issues. Last Friday, the company announced that it had received a warning from Russia’s technical watchdog about an issue with Nord Stream 1’s only remaining operational turbine, and said that the Portovaya compressor station responsible for pumping the gas westward would be shut down indefinitely the until problems are resolved. The compressor station normally has six operating turbines, but had resorted to operating only one as Western companies stopped providing maintenance on the equipment due to sanctions.

On Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov suggested that European countries’ violations of maintenance agreements on Nord Stream 1’s equipment were to blame for the pause in gas supplies through the pipeline.

Before Nord Stream 1’s operations were halted, Poland and Ukraine took separate measures to halt the flow of Russian energy to Europe. Kiev stopped the transit of Russian oil via the southern branch of the massive Druzhba oil pipeline, while Warsaw halted the flow of Russian gas through the Yamal-Europe pipeline and put it into reverse flow, depriving Europe of up to 33 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year.

Commenting on the crisis in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed claims that the energy crunch was somehow Russia’s fault. “How is this Gazprom’s responsibility? What does Gazprom even have to do with this? [The West] cut off one route, then another, and sanctions this gas pumping equipment [for Nord Stream 1]. Gazprom is ready to pump as much gas as necessary. But they have shut everything down,” he said.

The crisis has already put a damper on Europe’s economic growth and had a number of knock-on effects, including inflation, higher utility costs and a growing debt burden among nations providing subsidies to consumers to try to cushion the blow of rising energy costs via subsidies for households.

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal characterized Nord Stream 1’s cutoff as “the worst case scenario” for Europe as the region hunkers down for winter, with the move leading to an immediate spike in spot gas prices, a drop in the value of the euro unseen in 20 years, and fears of further inflation, mass impoverishment, and pressure on energy-intensive industries experiencing a wave of closures.

Putin warned Brussels and London about the consequences of their foolhardy policies back in May, comparing efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy to “economic suicide” and warning that Europe would destroy its own global economic competitiveness to accommodate the interests of its “American overlords.”