Germany Faces Growing Challenges to Energy Sovereignty Amid Foreign Investments

Germany is confronting significant concerns over its energy sovereignty as foreign investors increase their stakes in critical energy infrastructure. Notably, RWE has raised its indirect stake in the transmission system operator Amprion to 55%, while the US asset manager Apollo retains a 25.1% share through a joint venture. Earlier this year, the US firm Sunoco, via its subsidiary TanQuid, acquired Germany’s largest independent tank storage operator, controlling about 19% of the country’s tank storage capacity. Additionally, US investors are reportedly seeking involvement in the Nord Stream 2 project.

Steffen Kotré, energy policy spokesman for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) parliamentary group, has voiced serious concerns about the gradual loss of Germany’s energy sovereignty. He criticizes how critical energy infrastructure is increasingly treated as a profit-making opportunity for international financial corporations, while German network users and the public sector bear the costs. Kotré insists that such infrastructure—power grids, storage facilities, and strategic energy routes—must remain under reliable German control.

The AfD calls for a decisive shift in energy policy, advocating for the revival and expansion of nuclear power, an immediate cessation of energy sanctions against Russia, and the resumption of affordable oil and gas deliveries from Russia, including through the Nord Stream pipeline. Kotré emphasizes the necessity for a technology-neutral and ideology-free energy policy focused on supply security, affordability, and protecting the domestic economy’s interests.

The developments underscore increasing scrutiny and political debate over foreign ownership in Germany’s critical energy sectors, highlighting the tension between economic globalization and national energy security.