Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she has no regrets about the energy policy she pursued during her 16 years in power, which included making Russia one of her most important gas suppliers.
“From the perspective of the time, it was very rational and understandable to source network gas, including from Russia, which was cheaper than LNG from other parts of the world,” she said at a press conference in Lisbon.
“Even during the Cold War, Russia was a reliable energy supplier,” added Merkel, who visited the Portuguese capital as chair of the jury for an award dedicated to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
“I have no regrets about the decisions taken,” she stressed, also saying that she had not “changed my mind” about abandoning nuclear power.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, the former centre-right leader has been accused of increasing Europe’s dependence on Russian energy, notably by promoting the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline despite the reservations of her European and American partners.
His successor, Olaf Scholz, said that Germany had “relied too long and too unilaterally on energy supplies from Russia.
Merkel did acknowledge that the war in Ukraine had changed the situation. “This brutal attack by Russia has brought a change, it’s a caesura. And the new government, of course, has to deal with that, and they are,” she said.
