Berlin is already considering gas rationing. Next winter is likely to be harsh and housing poorly heated. Germany is running into gas shortages and will have to make “very difficult social decisions” for households and companies if Russian supplies continue to fall, Economics Minister Robert Habeck, also Vice Chancellor, warned on Friday. On Tuesday he did not mince his words: he called the decline in Russian gas supplies to Europe a targeted “economic attack”. Germany activated the “alert level” for its gas supply on Thursday.
“Certain branches of industry would have to be closed (…) All market-economy processes would then be suspended. It would be catastrophic for some industries. We are not talking about two days or two weeks, but about a long period of time. We’re talking about people who would become unemployed, of regions that would lose entire industrial complexes,” he explained in an interview with the weekly newspaper Der Spiegel.
The risk of gas shortages this winter has become more apparent since Russian energy giant Gazprom drastically reduced supplies via the Nord Stream gas pipeline, on which Germany is particularly dependent. Berlin fears that Russia will completely cut off this supply route.
An unprecedented situation
“We are already in a situation that Germany has never been in. Only if Russian gas stocks remain as low as they are now will we face a gas shortage,” warned the Vice-Chancellor, adding: “It will be fair this winter anyway. »
Germany is attempting to compensate for the shortage by purchasing from other producers and by accelerating the expansion of the infrastructure for importing liquefied natural gas. The country will also temporarily increase its use of coal, and the government is urging its 41 million households to save energy. If that is not enough, “we will have to make very difficult social decisions,” the minister said.
When it comes to gas rationing, European rules gave priority to households over companies, but “these rules are designed for short-term, not long-term, supply disruptions,” the minister said. The leading European economy, which is 35% dependent on Russian gas imports for its consumption and especially for industrial needs, accuses Russia of pursuing a strategy of reducing flows to Europe in order to destabilize the energy market.
Nord Stream under maintenance as of July 11
Deliveries via Nord Stream have fallen by 60% since last week, Gazprom argues with a technical problem. Germany is all the more concerned about the regular maintenance that Nord Stream will have to undergo from July 11, stopping the flow for ten days.
According to the Federal Network Agency’s scenarios, the gas shortage would occur in the event of a total stop to Russian deliveries from “mid-December”. The Kremlin said Thursday that flows will increase again once the missing turbines for the pipeline are delivered.