Economics Minister Habeck visits the refinery in Schwedt – Economy

Schwedt’s whole problem hangs on the wall of the canteen as a fine mosaic. Cargo ships can be seen there, airplanes, a laboratory with chemists, workers of all kinds. And then, on the far left, a long line. It leads from the refinery in Schwedt via the Oder and the Urals to three drilling towers in the Soviet Union that still existed when the mosaic was made: the Druzhba oil pipeline. And it is precisely because of this line that Robert Habeck is now standing outside the canteen on a table in the evening sun.

The Federal Minister of Economics made his way from Flensburg to the Oder this Monday. Since the EU Commission was planning an embargo on Russian oil, fear has been rampant in Schwedt. The PCK refinery in eastern Brandenburg hangs on the pipeline from Russia like a lightbulb on a power cable. And that’s not all: The refinery is also majority owned by the Russian oil giant Rosneft. Habeck had repeatedly emphasized that this business model would not work in the event of an embargo. But what happens then?

Habeck has a few things to explain as he stands here on the table in the evening sun. It was less than two weeks ago that he got the republic in the mood for an oil embargo with a Twitter video from the inner courtyard of his ministry. Schwedt is “the real problem,” he explained. A third of Russian oil is processed there, and it is difficult to get hold of it. “If I call and say: Hello, what do you actually want to do to become less dependent on Russian oil?” the Green explains in it, “they don’t even pick up the phone.”

Nobody would lose weight? It doesn’t look like it on the square in front of the canteen, on the contrary. Men and women in green and orange overalls crowd around the semi-circular terrace, their faces serious. Habeck admits at an extraordinary works meeting that he should have come earlier. “I only have a vague idea of ​​what it’s like to work here.” He knows about the “pressure in the soul” and the fear of poverty, about the region and home. But there are also solutions.

Schwedt, 35,000 inhabitants, is a socialist through and through, but also a very well-kept green city right on the Oder. She has lived from and with the refinery for decades. On city maps, the area of ​​the former petrochemical combine is almost as large as that of the city itself “, says Schwedt’s mayor Annekathrin Hoppe (SPD), “then there are 1200 people here without work.” Not to mention what else is attached to it, jobs, social cohesion. Hoppe himself used to work in the refinery. Forgo the embargo for the sake of the refinery? “Difficult question,” says Hoppe. But there is hardly any other way to get the Kremlin to give in.

Open detailed view

Habeck has a plan for how to proceed with the refinery, the main features of which he lays out in front of the canteen. Part of the oil can be procured on the world market instead of from Russia, another part from the German oil reserve near Wilhelmshaven. Ships could transport it to Rostock through the Kiel Canal, from where there is a pipeline to Schwedt. Further quantities could come via Gdansk. But, as Habeck admits: “You don’t have to be clever to know that it will be more expensive.” The federal government will pay for these additional costs. “Christian Lindner pays, so to speak.” Muted giggles from the crowd.

Thirdly, there is still the question of who will run the company if, after an embargo, “the ownership structure begins to slip”. That has also been clarified, says Habeck – and refers to the case of the German Gazprom offshoot, which has recently been managed by the Federal Network Agency in trust. Schwedt would then be run by the state again, at least temporarily. “If all three come together – and I don’t want to paint the sky red for you, there may be a problem somewhere – then you have job security for the near future. Then the company will continue here,” says Habeck. “Because we need Schwedt.” That the whole construct fails completely, “that won’t happen”.

Open detailed view

Can you trust the minister from Berlin? There are many critical questions, about the embargo, about Russia’s guilt, about the future of the site. An employee with sunglasses grabs the microphone and wants to know if Habeck thinks about his oath of office from time to time. And whether this oath of office does not also require damage to be averted in the form of high energy prices. “I’ll spare you what the oath of office means to me,” says Habeck. The war in the Ukraine is such a breach of a taboo in the peace order in Europe that it must not be successful. “If we allow injustice to become law, then we will not have security in Europe.”

It’s like a picture of an appearance: Habeck on a table in the evening light – a man with principles who can also explain these principles conclusively. He himself describes words like “structural change”, “transformation” or “credit-financed” as glossing over political speech and thus places himself next to “die” from Berlin. It is not entirely clear whether Habeck’s answers will catch on. But there are no boos either.

After an hour, Habeck will say, he imagined the performance to be “more dazzling and louder”. Instead, he reaped the thanks of Brandenburg’s prime minister, Dietmar Woidke (SPD), who had traveled there especially, and the new PCK boss, Ralf Schairer, was inspired by the promises from Berlin. “I see the will to do something here,” he says, and for his own people he adds: “Is it all going to be easy? Of course not. But I believe in our strength and our will.”

Schairer now has the hardest job. So that oil other than Russian can be processed in Schwedt, he would have to procure it – and with the blessing of his shareholders. As long as the federal government does not take over, Rosneft would also have to go along with it. And the matter is urgent, because all this requires a lot of negotiations. Habeck puts it this way: the EU wants to give itself 180 days before the embargo begins. “Of course you can say 180 days is a long time, maybe the war will stop before then. High risk!” Then you continue as before for 179 days, “and the night before you realize: Shit, tomorrow there will be no more oil.”

You can say it like that.