Germany is one of the countries most dependent on Russian fuels. Now it regrets its bad energy policy decisions of the past, writes Anna Saraste, ‘s assistant in Berlin.
29.3. 12:00 • Updated March 29 12:25
BERLIN In recent weeks, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has had to be examined several times about the country’s energy policy. He has reiterated that Germany does not intend to stop importing fuel from Russia abruptly, following the US model.
However, Scholz has emphasized that Europe is slowly but “irreversibly” giving up Russian fuel:
Germany also plans to build LNG terminals for liquefied land use in record time.
Germany fears that households will get colder and companies will have to shut down by the end of the year at the latest. Some economists estimate that the absence of Russian fuels on the German market would tax the country’s GDP by 0.5 to 3 percent. It would correspond to a moderate recession (you will switch to another service)on the other hand, is less than the effects of the interest rate crisis on the German economy.
Indeed, Germans are saddened to see how bad decisions have been made in Germany over energy in recent decades.
The oil pipelines built in East Germany during the Soviet era were allowed to continue operating after German reunification.
Previous governments as Christian Democrats Angela Merkelin than the Social Democrats Gerhard Schröderin led to the democratization of Russia if the country was only tied to other Western countries through energy trade.
Although the sudden absence of Russian gas and oil scaring Germany, the country itself could harden its line and cut off supplies quickly if war in Ukraine becomes more destructive.
The country’s government made a surprising change, for example, with regard to arms exports, when it announced a few days after the start of the war in Ukraine about arms exports to Ukraine and additional funding of EUR 100 billion for the German defense forces this year.
The decisions reformed Germany’s security policy in one fell swoop.
The economic power of Central Europe will give up nuclear power by the end of this year.
However, in the changed world, Germany may allow more time for its coal and lignite-fired power plants. For the time being, they are scheduled to close by 2038.