Germany – Canada, (energy) alliance

The results of Solz’s visit to Canada and the “debunking of Zelensky” in the German press. And, isn’t a mask required on government flights?

The highlight of Chancellor Olaf Solz and Minister of Economy Robert Habeck’s visit to Canada occurred on the third and final day with the signing of a bilateral agreement on cooperation in hydrogen production. As the German press points out, the first supplies are planned for 2025. As part of the agreement, Canada wants to boost hydrogen production, especially from renewable electricity sources, for export to Germany. However, not even Canada can help Soltz in the energy crisis, she claims Welt. And he explains why. “During the trip the German-Canadian friendship was described in the most emphatic terms… All great, but vague. Climate protectors Solz and Habeck bravely promote long-term ecological investments, sign declarations of intent… but in the short term Germany needs something else, it needs natural gas. This dirty fossil energy, and then its highly expensive, highly unfriendly liquid form, LNG, which is transported across the oceans by heavy tankers. Canada has huge deposits, but is struggling, because the Trudeau government, and even more so the green regional governments, want to get off the hook from fossil fuels”.

Her columnist Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he draws his own conclusions from the journey. “Scholz’s efforts to intensify contacts with Canada come against the background of the Russian attack on Ukraine. The chancellor’s concern is not only to find new partners for Germany’s energy supply, but also to introduce other sources of energy from the rich to first Canadian materials. This also played an important role in his three-day trip to Canada. But for the chancellor it was important to consolidate political proximity with Canada.”

With or without a mask on a government flight?

But here is where an important trip, such as that of the chancellor and the finance minister to Canada, provokes fierce criticism for a seemingly minor problem. Why didn’t the ministers, journalists and the delegation wear masks on the plane, at a time when the return of the mandatory mask is being discussed for the new law to deal with the pandemic? “Everyone is equal, but some are more equal” mockingly comments n Westfälische Nachrichten. “This is the impression from the trip. Trust in those who are supposed to be role models is being undermined… The result can only be one, either equal rights for all, so giving up the mask, or mandatory masking on all passenger flights.”

Angry reaction from the Heilbronner Stimme. “The German Epidemic Protection Act provides for compulsory masks on buses, trains and planes, but is this not the case for the chancellor and his vice-chancellor? The excuse that all fellow travelers had undergone a molecular test and that masks are not compulsory in government Air Force aircraft cannot distract from the fact that this is a first-rate lack of instinct. understands that other rules apply to members of the government. Solz and Habeck thus confirm the widespread – and often mistaken – prejudice that high-ranking people do whatever they want anyway. This does not bode well for acceptance of the new rules for coronavirus after September 23”.

What did Zelensky know about the Russian invasion?

A rare article entitled “The demystification of Zelensky” is hosted by the German press about the Ukrainian president and indeed on the day of the completion of 6 months since the start of Russia’s war of aggression and 31 years since the country’s independence. Her columnist Handelsblatt Matias Brigman observes changes in the Ukrainian president. “Anyone who sees him recognizes a visibly older man. He no longer exudes the youthful lightness of the 44-year-old TV comedian with whom he took office in May 2019. After the outbreak of war, he grew a beard and wears only military green T-shirts and jackets . The comedian from the sitcom ‘Servant of the People’ became a warlord”. The German columnist, however, also goes into unflattering details, citing testimonies that he overlooked or even concealed intelligence information more than half a year ago and did not prepare the people for the coming war. He even mentions an assessment by the well-known screenwriter and playwright Katerina Mabkina that “this is not an oversight, a mistake, an unfortunate misunderstanding or a strategically incorrect assessment, but a crime”.

And the German journalist points out: “His statement that he needs guns and not rides, with which he responded negatively to the US to flee abroad, brought him respect and followers. So far Zelenksi has managed to rule together with his team in the administration and the government, made up in part of his colleagues from the television production company Kwartal 95. But the grace period seems to have ended,” he notes. It is worth noting that the Ukrainian president for the first time publicly admitted last week in an interview with the Washington Post that he was informed about the Russian war plans, but if “he had made public the warnings of the US … the consequences would have been disastrous” as he said.

Irini Anastasopoulou

SOURCE: Deutsche Welle