by Markus Wacket
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government wants to include in the draft law on energy security in preparation the possibility of emergency aid to companies in the sector such as Uniper, which could go as far as a stake in the State, we learned from several sources familiar with the matter.
Germany, one of the countries most dependent on Russia for its energy supply, has to deal with soaring prices for oil and especially natural gas since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. and Western sanctions against Moscow, a situation that jeopardizes the economic viability of companies such as Uniper.
The latter declined to comment immediately on Monday, saying simply that he was currently receiving about 40% of the usual volume of Russian gas.
Amendments to the bill on energy security are being discussed within the government, said the Ministry of Economy.
The amendments could allow Berlin to quickly impose a one-off gas tax aimed at passing the impact of rising energy prices fairly to all consumers and helping suppliers, several people told Reuters .
A possible bailout of Uniper by the State could resume the scheme adopted two years ago to help Lufthansa when the airline, threatened by the COVID-19 crisis, had received a total of nine billion euros in aid, explained one of these sources.
“The federal government should be able to have options on the model of helping Lufthansa,” she said.
Asked about the possibility of the state taking a stake in Uniper, the sources replied in the affirmative, while specifying that it was an option of last resort.
Uniper, a subsidiary of the Finnish group Fortum, is one of the biggest European customers of the Russian gas giant Gazprom. He gave up any financial forecast for this year last week.
(Report Markus Wacket, French version Marc Angrand)
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