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Economics Minister Robert Habeck
Photo: IMAGO/Chris Emil Janssen / IMAGO/Chris Emil Janssen
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) is preparing for the blocking of natural gas supplies by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to SPIEGEL information, on Wednesday morning he triggered the early warning stage in an emergency plan to ensure the supply of natural gas even after a delivery stop.
According to the ministry, there are currently no supply bottlenecks.
The security of supply is guaranteed.
With the declaration of the early warning level, Habeck also deploys a crisis team that continuously analyzes and evaluates the supply situation.
If necessary, this working group can also remove certain consumers from the network.
For this, however, the third stage of the national emergency plan for natural gas would have to be announced.
It provides that households will continue to be supplied with gas, but that individual large customers from industry will not receive gas deliveries or will receive reduced quantities.
The background to the radical step is the Kremlin's ultimatum that, from April, energy deliveries will be paid exclusively in rubles and not in euros or dollars.
Habeck had rejected this after a meeting with the energy ministers of the G7 countries on Monday.
A Russian government spokesman said immediately that deliveries would then be stopped.
It is unclear whether Moscow will carry out this threat.
However, the Federal Minister of Economics has decided to use the early warning stage to create every opportunity to prepare for this situation.
High damage expected in the event of a delivery stop
In the event of a delivery stop, the German economy is at risk of high damage.
Their association representatives expect the strongest effects that have ever existed since World War II.
Industry needs gas for many processes, for example in the chemical industry, aluminum production or steelworks.
After a vote within the federal government, he informed the European Commission today that the federal government had declared the first stage of the gas emergency plan, the so-called early warning stage, according to Habeck.
Even if there are currently no supply bottlenecks, precautionary measures are necessary in order to be prepared for an escalation by Russia.
kig
