Von der Leyen fury: How EU chief hit out at Donald Trump after brutal Germany jibe

In 2011, Germany and Russia opened its huge Nord Stream gas pipeline in a deal that would allow President Vladimir Putin to integrate closely with Europe. Following the project’s success, proposals for a Nord Stream 2 expansion have been agreed between Berlin and Moscow despite widespread criticism. Spanning from west Russia to the eastern German city of Greifswald, critics have expressed concerns over the project risking Europe being dependent on Russian energy and causing tensions with the US.

There were no bigger opponents to the move than US President Trump, who was infuriated due to his longstanding rivalry with President Putin.

At the 2018 NATO summit, he clashed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the decision.

The US President said: “It’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where we’re supposed to be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.

“So we’re protecting Germany. We’re protecting France. We’re protecting all of these countries. And then numerous countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia, where they’re paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia.”

“Germany is totally controlled by Russia because they will be getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline. And you tell me if that’s appropriate, because I think it’s not, and I think it’s a very bad thing for NATO and I don’t think it should have happened.

“If you look at it, Germany is a captive of Russia, because they supply…they got rid of their coal plants, got rid of their nuclear, they’re getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia. I think it’s something NATO has to look at.”

Then German Defence Ursula von der Leyen hit back at Washington in an interview with the BBC, mocking Trump’s use of Twitter and arguing Germany had maintained independence.

She said: “We can cope with it. We’ve heard him before and seen the tweets. We have an independent energy supply, we are an independent country, we are just diversifying.”

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“That’s a very good thing, especially for people in the former east.”

In January, Russian President Putin said he expected work on Nord Stream 2 to be completed “by the end of this year, or in the first quarter of next year”.

German chancellor Merkel said she “does not agree with the US approach” of threatening sanctions.

source: express.co.uk