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Wednesday, 10 February 2021 (YJC)_ Opposition factions in the Bundestag summoned German Vice Chancellor to Answer Questions on Nord Stream 2.
Opposition factions in the Bundestag led by the Greens summoned German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz to appear before them within one hour to answer questions about the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, German media reported Wednesday evening.
The minister was reportedly summoned while engaged in discussions on coronavirus policy at the Chancellory, with the Bundestag session suspended until his arrival.
The emergency summons follows Tuesday's release of a report by Environmental Action Germany (DUH), a local environmental and consumer protection association, accusing Scholz of offering a one billion euro investment in LNG infrastructure in Germany if the US dropped its sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
Scholz is alleged of having made the offer in a letter in 2020, with the letter said to have been addressed to then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
The vice chancellor is a member of Germany's Social Democrats, who participate as the junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union-led grand coalition. He is also the lead SPD candidate for the upcoming September 2021 federal elections.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas blasted the Greens over their dramatic summoning of Scholz Wednesday evening, calling the summons a "hypocritical spectacle."
German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze denied DUH's claims about a German offer to the US to drop its Nord Stream 2 sanctions, and questioned the Green Party over its criticisms of Berlin's energy policy.
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