Kühnert accuses Merz of "nefarious attacks" on Schwesig

SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert has rejected calls for the resignation of the Union to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) - and in turn sharply criticized CDU leader Friedrich Merz. "The nefarious attacks by CDU leader Friedrich Merz on Manuela Schwesig are shrill in tone, but insubstantial in substance," Kühnert told the news portal "t-online" on Thursday. There is a collective responsibility of German politics for "common false assumptions". The CDU should also start working on this.

On Wednesday, Merz got involved in the heated debate about political responsibility for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline: "What happened there is an incredible process, but all the details are only gradually becoming public," said Merz and demanded the resignation of Schwesig.

Schwesig came under criticism in the course of the dispute over the Climate Foundation MV. The foundation was set up at the instigation of the state government, primarily for the purpose of supporting the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline – despite possible US sanctions. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, Schwesig has wanted to get rid of the foundation.

The Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into the Climate Foundation will start the next round on Friday with two experts. "We want to clarify what objective data, investigations and indications existed at the time that spoke for or against the construction of another pipeline through the Baltic Sea, what alternatives there would have been and how the decision then made for another gas pipeline from Russia came about." , said the committee chairman Sebastian Ehlers (CDU) on Thursday in Schwerin.

The committee of inquiry invites the energy expert Claudia Kemfert from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) (10:00 a.m.) and the consultant Friedbert Pfluger (CDU) (11:30 a.m.) on Friday. Kemfert considered the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline superfluous early on, Pfluger - who also chairs the supervisory board of the "Zukunft Gas" lobby association - had supported the project.

In addition, the initiators of the U-Committee, CDU, Greens and FDP, had also requested a special session of the state parliament in the coming week. The aim is to expand the mandate of the committee of inquiry to also be able to examine tax issues in connection with the foundation. The burning of the foundation's tax documents by a tax officer had previously caused a stir.

The coalition factions initially rejected this proposal. "New findings are not to be expected, since last Friday at the public special meeting of the legal committee and finance committee, all open questions about the current processes were answered in more than eight hours," said the SPD on Thursday. Torsten Koplin from the Left Party made a similar statement: "The impression is that for the short-term political profiling a loss of reputation for the country is accepted."

Ehlers saw this as a violation of the rights of the opposition. "Red-Red remains true to itself: everything that is legally possible to delay the educational work is being done," he said. This is a new low in dealing with the opposition in Parliament.

Ultimately, the parties in the Council of Elders agreed. The special session will take place on March 21, i.e. not in the coming week, as initially desired by the opposition. The parliamentary director of the Greens, Constanze Oehlrich, said: "The convening of a special session is regulated as a minority right." This minority in the form of the Jamaican opposition was thwarted on Thursday.

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