According to Bild, secret talks have been taking place in Switzerland for several weeks regarding the commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline - with the aim of revitalising the flow of gas from Russia to Germany. What can we make of these reports?

According to Bild, US special envoy Richard Grenell is said to have travelled to Zug, where the operating company's headquarters are located, several times to negotiate the commissioning of Nord Stream 2. The USA is to act as an intermediary to transport the Russian gas through one of the two Nord Stream 2 pipelines to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In addition to the potential financial gain, the USA could control Germany's gas supply. Green hydrogen could flow from Finland to Germany via the second Nord Stream pipeline, which is in need of repair - this was also reported by Handelsblatt, among others. These reports could not be independently verified.

According to Bild, Matthias Warnig, former managing director of Nord Stream 2 and close confidant of President Putin, is also said to be involved in the negotiations. Warnig is said to play a key role - according to the Financial Times. According to US government sources, Donald Trump's entourage is aware of Warnig's involvement.

The German government has reportedly not been involved in the confidential negotiations to date. Government circles have reported that they have no knowledge of Grenell's meeting in Switzerland. Grenell himself, as well as Warnig, deny any involvement in such talks.

How to deal with such reports. The fact is that both pipelines in the Nord Stream 2 system are not certified as the Federal Network Agency has suspended the certification process. Consequently, both pipelines cannot be used. According to the Federal Network Agency, certification of an operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline could only have been considered if the operator had been organised in a legal form under German law. Nord Stream 2 AG, based in Zug, Switzerland, decided at the time not to convert the existing company but to establish a subsidiary under German law for the German section of the pipeline only. This subsidiary was to own and operate the German section of the pipeline. The subsidiary would itself have had to fulfil the requirements of the Energy Industry Act for an independent transmission system operator. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the European Commission were informed accordingly in advance. The decision was announced to the parties involved in the proceedings and subsequently published.

It is difficult to imagine that the commissioning of a section of Nord Stream 2 will be discussed without the involvement of the German Federal Government - that decisions will be made without Germany's involvement, so to speak - especially as the commissioning of a section of Nord Stream could certainly be seen as an affront to the other EU MS, which support the sanctions against Russia. The commissioning of one of the two pipelines would also counteract the EU's plans, namely the complete phase-out of Russian natural gas by 2027.

From the US perspective, the commissioning of a Nord Stream 2 line could lead to conflicting objectives. On the one hand, the Trump administration could put even more pressure on Ukraine to enter into a kind of dictatorial peace with Russia, as Russia could generate additional revenue through the sale of natural gas via Nord Stream 2 and thus increasingly finance the war. In addition, intermediary US gas traders could earn good money and significantly influence Germany's energy landscape. On the other hand, Trump could be working against the interests of the US LNG industry as they want to sell their natural gas in a relatively high-priced market, namely the EU. Natural gas from Russia would probably push the price down. Whether President Trump could then still score points with his voters with the slogan "Drill baby, drill" remains questionable.