According to a report in the “Bild” newspaper (Monday edition), the federal government is expecting an emergency in the gas supply in individual federal states. According to this, Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD) informed the heads of the state chancellery of the federal states in a switching conference on Thursday that the federal government, after the maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, is assuming that gas deliveries by Russia will be reduced again, citing pretexts.
If Russia were to deliver more than 40 percent of the agreed amount of natural gas to Germany, the German government would, according to the report, get through the winter without any emergencies. The government sees this as unrealistic. The government therefore fears possible regional emergencies.
She also assumes that Germany will still be dependent on Russian gas in the winter of 2023/24, according to the “Bild” report – and that gas prices will double or triple. According to the report, a prime ministerial conference is to be convened with Chancellor Olaf Scholz if Russia does not resume gas supplies after maintenance work on Nord Stream 1.
Bavaria is demanding that the federal government declare a gas emergency immediately in order to shut down large gas-fired power plants and is pushing for the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant in Bavaria to be put back into operation. “I call on Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck to immediately declare gas emergency level 3,” said Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Huber Aiwanger of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Monday edition). “The state must now get involved in gas management,” emphasized the deputy Bavarian prime minister and Free Voters chief. Above all, large gas-fired power plants would have to be shut down as far as possible in return for compensation payments so that the gas storage tanks could be filled up more quickly for the winter
“We are currently burning huge amounts of natural gas to generate electricity,” said Aiwanger, referring to the large Bavarian power plant in Irsching. “Because as long as electricity can still be produced lucratively from gas, it will be done,” warned Aiwanger. “The most important thing now is that we immediately save a lot of gas, because at the moment almost nothing is moving when the storage tanks are filled,” said the Bavarian minister.
“In this mixed situation, we should also connect the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant back to the grid and also leave Isar 2 fully connected to the grid,” demanded Aiwanger. “That would bring massive potential savings in gas consumption, so that we could finally fill up our gas storage tanks for the winter.” “Bavaria is the most industrial state and therefore has the highest gas consumption,” said Aiwanger. “That’s why the lack of gas hurts Bayern the most. When it comes to filling the gas storage tanks, we are almost too late.”
Aiwanger called on Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) to secure the filling of the Austrian gas storage facility in Haidach, on which Bavaria is also dependent. “It took a long time for Berlin to sign a declaration with Austria to ensure security of gas supply,” says the Bavarian minister. “But now the agreement announced in it must be concluded quickly so that the storage tank filling really begins, as long as we can still get gas from somewhere at all,” warned the Free Voter politician. “I like to play the interpreter with Austria for the federal government,” added Aiwanger.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sharply criticized Canada’s decision to send turbines for the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 back to Germany. Ukrainians would “never accept Canada’s decision,” Zelenskyy said in his daily message on the presidential office’s website after a phone conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday. It is a “violation of the sanctions regime” against Russia.
The phone call was the first exchange between Zelensky and Trudeau after the government in Ottawa last week gave the go-ahead for the export of the turbines repaired in Canada. Zelenskyy said in his message that if there was a violation of the sanctions against Russia, it “wouldn’t be long before there were more”. He accused Russia of blackmailing other countries with gas.
Shortly after the conversation with Trudeau, Zelenskyj was even more conciliatory and only wrote on Twitter that the international position on the sanctions must be “based on principles” and that the pressure on Moscow must be increased. The Ukrainian President also thanked Trudeau for Canada’s military support.
According to a statement from his office, Trudeau himself reiterated Canada’s “continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russian military aggression.” Ukraine’s allies must continue to “maintain strong unity” and impose “heavy costs” on Russia for the “illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine.” The Nord Stream turbines were not mentioned in the statement.
Numerous Ukrainians and also some Poles protested in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw against the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. As the Polish news agency PAP reported on Sunday evening, the meeting was peaceful and the police did not report any incidents.
The demonstrators carried blue and yellow flags and banners with slogans such as “Russia is a terrorist state” or the English-language call “Stop Putin, stop war”. Plastic rockets with the inscriptions of Ukrainian cities that the Russian military had fired on were also on display. The rally was organized by the “Euromaidan Warsaw” movement.
What will be important on Monday:
The foreign ministers of the European Union will discuss further tightening of sanctions against Russia on Monday in Brussels (9.30 a.m.). The EU Commission proposes a freeze on imports of Russian gold. Stricter conditions are also planned for the export of European goods, which Russia could also use militarily.
In addition, according to diplomats, the foreign ministers want to initiate further military aid in the amount of 500 million euros for Ukraine. The funds granted since the Russian attack at the end of February would thus total 2.5 billion euros. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is also expected to attend the Brussels meeting.
Also Read: Ukraine Update – Zelenskyy Team Quake, Moscow Reports Himar’s Destruction: What Happened Today
