Saxony Premier Kretschmer Argues for Repair of Nord Stream 1 Pipeline

March 24, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Saxony State Premier Michael Kretschmer demanded, in his interview on the March 23 broadcast of “Maybrit Illner” TV talk show, that steps be taken to repair Nord Stream 1, the gas pipeline that was in operation, of the two underneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The pipeline cost €8 billion, and the millions to protect the structure from destruction by salty seawater would be money well spent, he said. “The lesson from the Ukraine war, after all, is that you need options. So what do we do?” Germany is quitting nuclear power, not using its own gas, and is giving away the possibility that supplies through Nord Stream 1 will be possible for Germany again after the war, he said. “It is a crime to destroy the pipeline,” therefore, Kretschmer said. “It is a matter of course to have this option. It is a matter for the time after the war to preserve the option.” This, he says, is an imperative of common sense, and we owe it to future generations.

Kretschmer has been the only leading member of the Christian Democrats to attack the sanctions against Russia, long before the Ukraine war, and continues to campaign for restoring relations with Russia, although his own Saxon CDU, particularly the younger generation, does not back him. Despite intense harassment, Kretschmer has stuck to his guns.