BAyern’s Prime Minister Markus Söder fears that entire sections of the population will decline and that a wave of bankruptcies will result from the energy crisis in Germany. After statements by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) that Germany was well prepared for the winter, the CSU politician told the “Bild” newspaper: “I don’t know what this hope is based on. In any case, the citizens hardly have any more trust in the traffic lights. There is a lack of gas and energy. If the level of gas storage in the south is not significantly increased, it will not last through the whole winter.”
So far, none of the energy trips by Chancellor Scholz and Economics Minister Habeck have led to the conclusion of a gas contract, criticized Söder. In addition, an urgently needed extension of the lifetime of the nuclear power plants has still not been decided. “And because there is still no effective relief package, there is a risk of entire sections of the population falling and a wave of bankruptcies for small and medium-sized businesses,” Söder continued.
Merk demands a price cap for gas
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz, in turn, demanded a price cap in view of the increased energy prices. “And not in private households at home, but in the wholesale prices, which we say: for electricity, for oil, for coal, especially for gas from Russia, there is now a price cap, and more is no longer paid in wholesale,” said Merz on Saturday during the start of the election campaign of the Lower Saxony CDU in Osnabrück.
The expectation is that this will lead to lower prices on the market. However, it is also clear that prices will not return to the level before the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The days of cheap gas from Russia are over. “Cheap imports from China, expensive products from Germany all over the world, and the Americans pay for our security: this division of labor for Germany is over,” emphasized Merz.
A new state parliament will be elected in Lower Saxony on October 9th. In polls, the CDU was recently behind the SPD. For Merz, the appearance in Osnabrück will not be the only one in the Lower Saxony election campaign. He also wants to campaign for votes for the CDU on October 4th in the district of Harburg and at the end of the election campaign on October 7th in Hanover.
Network agency boss Müller warns
Representatives of the traffic light coalition met in Berlin this Saturday morning to discuss further relief in view of rising prices. Among other things, targeted help for pensioners and students and tax cuts as well as a successor regulation for the 9-euro ticket are under discussion.
In Germany, the general inflation rate is now at its highest level for decades. The most important drivers of inflation are the enormously increased energy prices. The state-owned Russian raw materials group Gazprom has now announced that it will not resume gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline for the time being. As a result, the Federal Network Agency once again emphasized how important it is now to take precautions for the winter. “In view of the Russian decision not to allow any gas to flow via Nord Stream 1 for the time being, the LNG terminals, the relevant storage levels and the need for significant savings are gaining in importance,” tweeted the President of the Authority, Klaus Müller, on Friday. “It’s good that Germany is now better prepared, but now it depends on everyone,” Müller continued.
Germany now receives by far the most natural gas from Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. According to the Federal Network Agency, around 2,900 gigawatt hours of natural gas flowed from these countries to Germany on Thursday. For comparison: On Monday, the last day before the announced supply reduction, Nord Stream 1 transported around 348 gigawatt hours of Russian natural gas.
The amount stored was always a multiple of this delivery amount from Russia. On Wednesday, for example, 965 gigawatt hours of natural gas were stored in Germany, and at the same time 354 gigawatt hours were withdrawn from storage. The bottom line is that 611 gigawatt hours remained in storage.