The left-wing faction in the Brandenburg state parliament has called for a possible exemption for the PCK oil refinery in Schwedt from the oil embargo against Russia because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.

A 100% supply of the refinery with oil from other sources is not possible, stressed Left Party leader Sebastian Walter on Tuesday in the state parliament. If there is no security of supply for East Germany without Russian oil, there must be an exception to the planned embargo for the PCK in Schwedt, the parliamentary group leader demanded.

However, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Michael Kellner (Greens), ruled out such an exemption for the PCK in Schwedt last week.

“It is a clear decision by the Chancellor and the Federal Government to say together: We will also refrain from Russian crude oil through the pipeline,” said Kellner.

At the same time, Walter asked the federal and state governments again for employment and wage guarantees for the 1,200 employees at the refinery. The left had already launched a corresponding poster campaign in Schwedt in May.

In a call published on Tuesday, the “Zukunftsbündnis Schwedt”, founded by regional actors in view of the planned oil embargo, also calls for the preservation of all collective bargaining jobs in the industrial park of the refinery PCK and the establishment of a regional development company for a conversion of production financed by the federal and state governments.

“Anyone who wants to exit technology must have well thought-out and sustainable strategies, especially if they are in government responsibility,” says the call.

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The call is supported, among others, by the mining, chemical and energy industrial union, the business associations and the Uckermark stage in Schwedt. It calls on the federal government to come up with solutions so that the entire region is not de-industrialized.

The PCK refinery is majority-owned by the German subsidiary of the Russian Rosneft group and processes Russian oil from the Druzhba pipeline. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to supply the plant with crude oil from other sources via Rostock and possibly Gdansk, but this would not completely compensate for the output. (dpa)