The proposal by German politician Wolfgang Kubicki to open the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to northern Germany has come under fire from all three parties in the coalition government.
The secretary general of Kubicki's own Free Democrats tweeted that "Russia is using energy politics as a weapon. The unity of the EU and NATO against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's war cannot be compromised as it ultimately serves our own security."
The leader of the Greens, Omid Nouripour, told dpa that Kubicki's proposal would be ineffective, as Russia was already cutting down the volume of gas delivered via the operational Nord Stream pipeline.
"It is completely irrelevant how many empty pipelines you open," he said.
A spokesperson for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, Nils Schmid, said that the problem was not a lack of pipelines, but a refusal by Putin to deliver more gas.
Schmid also went so far as to suggest Kubicki was "adopting Russian propaganda."
