The federal government wants to secure the German gas supply with liquid gas ships. Two of them are said to be in front of Rügen. The resistance on the holiday island is huge – and is now getting new food.
Robert Habeck looks tense as he steps in front of the press. It’s mid-May, the Vice Chancellor is on Rügen, but there’s no thought of vacation. Habeck is on a delicate mission. In the port of Mukran he wants to fight through, against which resistance has been forming for weeks, among environmentalists, among tourism professionals, among politicians, among citizens: a liquid gas terminal, right here in front of the holiday island.
“We need more capacity,” says Habeck. The supply of East Germany is “by far” not yet guaranteed. Two special ships in the port of Mukran should change that, before the end of this winter. That’s the government’s plan, that’s Robert Habeck’s plan, which he brought with him on this visit, his second visit within a few weeks.
A lawyer raises doubts
The “many local concerns,” says Habeck at some point, must be taken into account through good planning. “But in the end we have to act for Germany.” Hence the difficult conversations. “And I hope that it will continue after this day.”
It has continued since then, that much is clear today. However, not just in the way Habeck imagined. The Bundestag cast the plan into law before the summer break. But the resistance on Rügen is unbroken. And now also gets new arguments. The municipality of Binz has doubts about the planned operator of the terminal.
Deutsche ReGas is basically a liquid gas start-up that tax consultant Stephan Knabe and investment banker Ingo Wagner created from scratch last year. Courageous doers, that’s how they are seen in the federal government, also in Habeck’s house. But where does your money come from? A lawyer from the municipality of Binz smells dubious capital from the Cayman Islands. He recently filed a complaint and turned on the anti-money laundering authority, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
So far there is no evidence of questionable machinations, ReGas firmly rejects the allegations and speaks of a “massive suspicion and disinformation campaign”. But the doubts are aroused, even if they are probably unfounded. Even among Habeck’s party friends, who have been at odds with their Vice Chancellor’s plans for a long time. Public documents that have been available to t-online for months give an insight into the structures of ReGas. Although they do not clarify all open questions, they do not provide any indications of illegal activities. The “Spiegel” even reports on internal documents that are supposed to refute the allegations.
The questions are just right
In the end, it could be a rather unusual process, but everything is done lawfully. But the mere fact that there is something like doubt is risky for ReGas – and thus also for the federal government. Because the new doubts are added to existing political problems.
The project is highly controversial. Not only because it is planned on Rügen. The island lives from tourism. Hotels are of course more welcome than gas tankers. No, there are also fundamental concerns as to whether the federal government is not building far too many terminals for liquid gas, or LNG for short. So creates huge overcapacity.
The core question is whether Robert Habeck wants to push through a project in the holiday paradise that nobody needs, come hell or high water. Questions about supposedly dark backers come at the right time for critics. If the answers are actually insufficient and the plans burst, that would be fatal. In the end there could be many losers: ReGas, Robert Habeck – and also Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
ReGas speaks of “absurd suspicions”
The reaction of Deutsche ReGas shows how delicate the suspicion is for everyone involved. In a press release at the beginning of the week, she announced in the headline that she would take action against the “unsubstantiated suspicions”. The lawyer for the municipality of Binz raised “absurd suspicions” that the media “dubously” disseminated. The company is preparing “expression law and liability law steps”.
