Schwerin (dpa / mv) - The responsible financial authority has withdrawn a payment request to the controversial climate protection foundation of 23 million euros. This "was an error on the part of the responsible tax office, which was corrected immediately," said the Ministry of Finance in Schwerin on Thursday.
The Climate Protection Foundation announced on Wednesday that unresolved financial issues are delaying the state's desired resignation of the board and the desired dissolution. This includes, above all, the dispute between the state and the foundation over the payment of 9.8 million euros in gift tax. These are to be paid on grants from the pipeline operator Nord Stream 2. The foundation has long been criticized for the significant support it received from the subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.
The climate foundation and the state government had agreed that the board of directors would step down after the end of the foundation's business operations. This had supported the construction of the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2. Following the resignation, a new board of directors is to dissolve the foundation. The current board of directors still does not see the legal requirements for such a self-dissolution as given.
