(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government will “do everything” to ensure that natural gas continues to flow through Ukraine and prevent Russia from using its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to cripple the former Soviet republic’s economy.
During a three-hour trip to Poland on Sunday, Germany’s new leader didn’t directly address what, if any, action his government would take against the controversial pipeline as Russia amasses troops on Ukraine’s border. But he indicated that Germany’s ambition for carbon neutrality over the next quarter century will reduce gas supply from the east anyway.
For now, Scholz reinforced a pledge by his predecessor, Angela Merkel, that Germany would use its leverage to ensure that Russia extends its transit contract with Ukraine and help overhaul the east European country’s energy infrastructure.
“We feel responsible that the gas transit business is also a successful business,” Scholz said in Warsaw after a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Morawiecki said the roll out of Nord Stream 2 could “tighten the noose” around Ukraine and repeated his call to stop the pipeline project. Scholz made his second trip to the Polish capital after being sworn in to succeed Merkel on Wednesday.
Scholz also said he prefers a “pragmatic” resolution to the escalating dispute between the European Commission and Warsaw over adhering to principles of the rule of law. The EU has been locked in dispute with the Polish government over its revamp of the judicial system.
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