Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke is making clear demands on the federal government with regard to employees and supply insecurity. He finds clear words.
The Brandenburg state government is questioning the embargo on pipeline oil against Russia if the supply is not secured and the PCK refinery in Schwedt is not preserved.
“I expect a guarantee from the federal government that there are no supply bottlenecks, no supply uncertainties for our region, for Brandenburg, but also for the other countries in Germany,” said Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) during a visit to Schwedt/Oder. In addition, rising prices as a result of the embargo would have to be cushioned by the federal government. There must be a guarantee for the 1,200 employees in the PCK.
Woidke demands guarantees for employees
The head of government warned: “If these guarantees cannot be fulfilled for one reason or another, then it must be considered whether this embargo really makes sense.” Woidke and Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) spoke to the works council and management in Schwedt. The federal government plans to stop imports of Russian oil from next year, although the EU wants to exempt pipelines from the embargo. Russian oil arrives in Schwedt via the Druzhba pipeline. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) visited PCK a month ago, encouraged the employees and said that he saw chances of being retained. The chair of the works council, Simona Schadow, said the workforce was agitated and in places depressed. PCK is majority owned by a German subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
