With Poland and Bulgaria, Russia is already turning off the gas for the first EU countries. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) said in an interview with PULS 24 chief information officer Corinna Milborn: “Since four in the morning, by the way, the pressure in the lines has been dropping.”
The vice chancellor sees a “splitting strategy” on Putin’s part towards the EU. It should not be forgotten that, after Poland and Bulgaria, other EU countries also depend on the same pipelines, including Romania, Hungary and Germany. A similar procedure had already been used in previous conflicts in Ukraine.
The vice chancellor does not want to rule out that Austria could have a similar fate. “Much is possible, it can be much more dramatic,” warns Kogler. That’s why you have to make provisions for the worst case.
Kogler sees the first move against Putin’s divisive and blackmailing strategy as “filling our reserves.” This makes you less vulnerable. He doesn’t think much of a gas embargo, nor does former SPÖ Chancellor and former leader Christian Kern. A gas embargo would not end the war in Ukraine.
Schramböck for more hydropower, Kogler brakes
Economy Minister Margarete Schramböck (ÖVP) wants to rely on renewable energy to get out of dependence on gas. Above all, they want to expand hydropower. But Kogler puts the brakes on his government colleague: the potential of hydroelectric power has been largely exhausted. “The large amounts would mean we would have to dig a second Danube. It’s not raining that much, that’s not enough,” says Kogler.
Milborn on the podcast
Former SPÖ leader Christian Kern sees above all the need to neutralize rising energy prices to combat massive price increases. Due to a poor market mechanism, electricity prices from hydroelectric plants would also adjust to those from gas-fired plants. As a result, the association would have a multiple of earnings at the same costs.
There are already suggestions to counter this. For example, the Spanish government has suggested that the EU separate gas-fired plants from the market by having states buy that electricity and then feed it back. Every euro invested here would yield ten times as much, says Kern.
“Milborn Special – Inflation out of control?” Today at 20 pm on PULS 4 and the ZAPPN app.