With Michael Drobek, Manuela Schwesig proves her closeness to the people. “My granddaughter would like me to take a selfie with you,” says the welder to the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Drobek is a man like a bear. Muscular, big hands, weatherbeaten face, wearing a blue hard hat. “You’re just putting your granddaughter on,” says Schwesig and laughs. Of course, she is happy to fulfill the 64-year-old’s selfie request. And not only that: the SPD politician also invited the welder directly to the naval reception. “I don’t have an escort yet, I’m serious.” Drobek, otherwise not at a loss for a spell, has to swallow with this charm offensive. “I have to ask my wife first.”
On this rainy Friday, Manuela Schwesig took her summer tour to the port of Rostock and to the welder Drobek. Fire brigade festivals, appointments with farmers and visits to companies are on their agenda. A welcome change for Schwesig after tough months. In February, the 48-year-old withdrew for several weeks because an operation had become necessary after surviving cancer treatment.
In her absence, Russia first began its brutal war of aggression in Ukraine, followed by a public debate about Schwesig’s role in completing the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The opposition criticized that Schwerin had degenerated into an outpost of the Kremlin. The foundation is now to be dissolved, but politically Schwesig will not get rid of the allegations so quickly. A committee of inquiry wants to evaluate the first files after the summer break.
In the Rostock port, Schwesig tries to shake off the topic. She deliberately placed the focus of her summer tour on renewables. “We see opportunities in the area of ​​renewable energies to gain economic power, secure and expand jobs,” says Schwesig.
An example of this is the operation of the welder Michael Drobek. The Rostock company EEW manufactures monopiles, huge pipes for wind turbines at sea. Some of the steel monopiles are more than 70 meters long, have a diameter of up to twelve meters and weigh around 1,400 tons. They are rammed into the seabed using special technology, and then the offshore wind turbines are installed on them.
Business is booming. “We can’t even process all inquiries,” says Sascha Hofmeister, Technical Director of EEW. The pipes for a new offshore park off Rügen are currently being produced. A showcase project for Schwesig. “We want to participate in the value chain as much as possible,” says Schwesig while standing next to Hofmeister in a 9.5 meter wide tube.
But in Rostock, EEW has almost exhausted its potential. The location is bursting at the seams. The company rolls and processes around 250,000 tons of steel per year, and prices have recently risen sharply. Michael Drobek and his team weld the individual pieces into the gigantic pipes. More than 2000 monopiles for wind farms have already been manufactured. “We’ve never had any damage at sea,” says Drobek. It will stay that way until he retires next year. Drobek’s retirement is one more concern for Managing Director Hofmeister. He would like to hire 200 new employees, but the shortage of skilled workers has also swept the market empty in Rostock.
But Schwesig does not only focus on renewables on her tour through the port of Rostock, to which she specially invited the press from Berlin. In the largest port in East Germany, the connection between geopolitics and energy supply can be seen on this day. The last hard coal ship from Russia is being unloaded with large cranes before the EU sanctions come into force.
An oil tanker from the USA is moored a little further on. In the future there will be many more, because the refinery in Schwedt in Brandenburg – and thus large parts of eastern Germany – will be supplied with crude oil via Rostock. “That wasn’t our plan at all,” says Schwesig during a trip through the port. The port had actually tried to have a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and green hydrogen. However, for safety reasons, gas and oil cannot be unloaded in the same port. “We show solidarity here,” emphasizes Schwesig.
It is the credo with which the prime minister wants to get back on the political offensive. Those who called for their resignation a few months ago are now being helped with electricity, oil and gas from the north. “Now many other federal states are only just beginning to find out where their gas comes from,” says Schwesig, repeatedly emphasizing the LNG terminal in Lubmin, where liquefied natural gas is scheduled to land by the end of the year. “Thanks to the investments in Nord Stream 1 and 2, we have a large landing point for the whole of eastern Germany as far as Bavaria,” says Schwesig. The infrastructure of the past, for which Schwesig is so much criticized, should now become the lifebelt for the SPD politician.
In view of the exploding energy costs in the country, Schwesig even defends the old trade relations with Russia. “Now everyone can see why we have relied on Russian gas in the past,” she says. “It was available easily and inexpensively.” No sign of self-flagellation. Schwesig is now part of the solution.
The SPD politician also wants to send this signal to renewable energies. “We are already producing twice as much energy as we use,” she says. It’s a phrase that she now uses like a mantra at every event and in almost every interview.
On this day, however, Schwesig also had to listen to the fact that not only Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania could be further ahead. Four companies from the renewables sector are presenting themselves in an aging port building. There are shrimp skewers, fish rolls and soup. First up is Joachim Krüger. For more than ten years he has been selling solar thermal parabolic trough power plants with his company “Solarlite”. Hot water vapor is produced with sun mirrors – an inexpensive and climate-friendly alternative to gas. Krüger has already implemented projects in Thailand, India, Belgium and Austria. In Germany, however, not. “We’re lagging behind,” he says to Schwesig.
“I wish we could finally use this technology on our doorstep. For example, he could guarantee 95 percent of the heat at the airport in Rostock-Laage with one system. But for a long time, the country’s attention was focused on fossil fuels. Krüger does not want to criticize the Prime Minister directly. After his presentation, he only says: “I have the feeling that ears that have been deaf for a long time are now opening.”
