Biden demands that Berlin comply with the Nord Stream 2 agreement
Rome. In view of the ongoing change of government in Berlin, US President Joe Biden has called for compliance with the German-American agreement on the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2. Biden has underlined the importance of continuous work on the implementation of the agreement, said the White House on Saturday after Biden’s talks with Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and her likely successor, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome with.
Biden therefore stressed that it must be ensured that Russia cannot use the natural gas supplies for other political purposes. The German agreement stipulates that Russia WILL be occupied with American ones, should the pipeline be used as a geopolitical “weapon”. In the negotiations between Scholz and the Greens and the FDP about the formation of a traffic light coalition, the handling of Nord Stream 2 is controversial. The Greens are against the project, the FDP is at least skeptical and the SPD wants to stay out of it.
Afghanistan topic in talks
The White House also said it had discussed ongoing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Biden thanked Germany for accepting 35,000 Afghans when they moved to the USA. On Saturday, after a good two months, the USA completed the evacuation of Afghans via their Ramstein air base in Rhineland-Palatinate. According to the US Air Force, the last aircraft left the hub for the USA. The action began after the militant Islamist Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. As of August 20, 34,900 Afghans had been flown out via Ramstein.
The US President thanked Merkel for the 16 years in which they worked for common security, prosperity and for transatlantic relations.