Switzerland is ill-prepared for a possible shortage of gas. It is to be feared that the omissions of the past few years will soon take revenge.
If Russian gas runs dry in Europe, the consequences for the Swiss economy will be drastic. The picture shows the gas storage facility in Schlieren.
Europe could run out of gas next winter. In Germany and Austria, people are preparing for this scenario with the necessary seriousness. Last week, the two neighboring countries announced the first stage of a three-stage “gas emergency plan”. A monitoring system has been activated to closely monitor events on the gas market. The responsible ministries said that they are preparing themselves in the event that Russia escalates further and that this leads to a worsening of the gas supply.
No such announcements have been heard from Bern. There is widespread radio silence on the question of how Switzerland should react if there is a shortage of gas. The Federal Office for National Economic Supply (BWL), which is responsible for such crisis situations, is currently mainly concerned with itself. As Europe threatens to slide into the biggest energy crisis in decades, Business Administration is being reorganized at the behest of Economy Minister Guy Parmelin.
The organization with the equivalent of 32 full-time positions is now managed by a part-time delegate with a 40 percent workload. With the current level of staff, the office is hardly in a position to deal with its most important business at the moment, according to a recent report. Especially since important key positions are not filled due to illness-related absences, such as that of the deputy director.
This is, to put it mildly, disturbing. If there is a shortage next winter, an office that even the Department of Economics, Education and Research does not trust to conscientiously fulfill its core tasks is to deal with the crisis. So far there is no sign of serious contingency planning in case gas has to be rationed next winter.
Certainly, dependence on gas is significantly greater in the neighboring countries of Germany and Austria. And with it the vulnerability of national economies. But one should not be fooled in this country by a false sense of security: If Russian gas runs out in Europe, the consequences for the Swiss economy will also be drastic.
And uncomfortable questions will arise. For example, which companies should then be temporarily turned off the gas tap – and which should not. Business representatives criticize that to date there have been no discussions with the authorities on how the economic damage can be minimized if companies have to ration their energy supplies. This question is crucial: While individual companies would hardly be affected, quotas would have disastrous consequences for other companies.
In Bern, however, these questions seem to be dealt with only marginally. And this despite the considerable risk that Switzerland will be punished for its sloppy policies over the past ten years. The Federal Council and Parliament have simply not done their homework: the former Energy Minister Doris Leuthard had already promised an overarching supply law for gas. But after that it was always lip service. The clarification of central questions of market organization and security of supply was put on the back burner. The Federal Council also failed to create the necessary framework for the construction of domestic gas storage facilities.
If there is a gas or electricity supply bottleneck next winter, Switzerland will be made to pay for these omissions.