The investigative committee for the controversial climate foundation MV gets into the substantive work. More than 30 requests for evidence are on the table.
Schwerin (dpa / mv) – The parliamentary committee of inquiry into the controversial climate foundation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is ordering large quantities of files in order to find out how the foundation was founded in early 2021. The opposition and government factions have submitted more than 30 requests for evidence. They are to be decided tonight. The committee, which was formed on June 17, is thus starting to work on the content. By Monday evening, 34 applications had been received, 29 of them from the opposition, according to committee circles.
The files that the committee members want to read range from tax files to documents from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The opposition wants to know whether the secret services were interested in the foundation, which was largely financed with money from Russian natural gas deals. Among other things, the SPD has requested that all documents from the Climate Foundation be handed over to the committee.
The committee of inquiry intends to investigate the circumstances of the founding of the foundation in early 2021. The foundation was established following a parliamentary resolution and also supports climate protection activities. Above all, however, it was used to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for Russian natural gas through the Baltic Sea. The project ran into difficulties shortly before completion when companies bailed out after threats of US sanctions. The line was finally completed, but because of the Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine, it did not receive an operating license from the German authorities.
Nord Stream 2 AG, with the Russian state-owned company Gazprom as the majority shareholder, had provided 20 million euros for climate protection projects. However, according to the latest information, the company also channeled around 165 million euros into the pipeline construction via the foundation. The state itself had contributed 200,000 euros as a foundation contribution.
The Foundation for Climate and Environmental Protection MV was controversial from the start. Critics spoke of a fake foundation in which climate protection was only intended to cover up the actual purpose of completing Nord Stream 2. The state government has already acknowledged that representatives of Nord Stream 2 directly influenced the wording of the foundation’s charter.
