German gas deal with Qatar under renewed scrutiny

BERLIN — A high-level state visit by Qatar's emir to Germany has raised fresh criticism of Berlin’s deal to import natural gas with the gulf state, which is seen as a major sponsor of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as well as President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the German capital on Thursday. None of the meetings were followed by appearances in front of the press, a fact that underscores the political sensitivity of the visit.

Coinciding with the visit, some members of Scholz’s ruring coalition sharply criticized plans to import more liquified natural gas, or LNG, from Qatar.

"Future energy partnerships should only take place with partners who recognize Israel's right to exist and do not fight it," said Michael Kruse, the energy policy spokesperson of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which rules in a coalition with Scholz's center-left Social Democrats and Habeck's Greens.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany moved to end its long dependence on Russian gas and sought alternative suppliers, including Qatar, which has rapidly become one of the world’s biggest exporters of liquified natural gas, or LNG.

Scholz and his Economy Minister Robert Habeck visited Qatar last year — with the latter even bowing to the emir — to ink a deal under which Germany will receive up to two million tons of LNG annually as of 2026.

But the terrorist attack on Israel perpetrated by Hamas gunmen coupled with the timing of the emir's visit to Berlin has triggered renewed scrutiny of the deal from inside Scholz’s ruling coalition.

"The barbaric attack by the terrorist Hamas shows how important it is to combat the financing of terrorism,” said Kruse, the FDP energy spokesperson. “If Hamas has received financial and non-material support from Qatar for years, Germany cannot buy billions of cubic meters of gas as a thank you."

Scholz defended his meeting with the emir – which had already been announced ahead of the Hamas attack on Israel – during a speech in the Bundestag on Thursday, saying that Qatar had "an important mediating role, which it is also using."

It would be "irresponsible not to use all contacts that can help in this dramatic situation," Scholz said. "We are doing this in close coordination with Israel and for those who have been kidnapped by Hamas."

Members of Germany's conservative opposition criticized Scholz for meeting with the Qatari emir in the aftermath of the attack on Israel, though didn't target the gas deal itself. Qatar is “one of the most important financiers of Hamas terror,” Gitta Connemann, a lawmaker for the Christian Democratic Party told POLITICO.

“Qatar must finally cut off the terrorists' money,” Connemann added. “Israel does not need lip service. It needs solidarity.”