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Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder (archive photo): "We are marching towards a form of deindustrialization"
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IMAGO/Klaus W. Schmidt / IMAGO/Bonnfilm
The proclamation of the second stage of the gas emergency plan was largely positively received by business representatives.
Suppliers and environmental organizations also welcomed the move.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) called for further efforts to secure the energy supply.
"There is an existential gas emergency," he said.
The announcement of the gas alert because of the significantly reduced deliveries from Russia "hopefully not too late" and shows that all efforts to find substitute suppliers have not worked.
"It's a sign that the situation is much more serious than we thought."
If companies were to be shut down due to a lack of gas, it would be »an absolute catastrophe.
Thousands of jobs will be affected.
So we are actually marching towards a form of de-industrialization, ”said Söder.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) had previously confirmed that the federal government was proclaiming the gas alert level.
The reason is the reduced gas supplies from Russia and the persistently high prices.
The alert level is the second of three levels of the gas emergency plan.
So far, the early warning level has applied.
The highest would be the so-called emergency level.
The energy industry described the declaration of the alarm level as "correct".
"It's about doing everything to ensure the highest possible storage levels and to achieve the storage targets," said Kerstin Andreae, Chair of the Executive Board of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW).
E.on expects prices to continue to rise
According to the energy company Uniper, the step may not be enough.
The gas storage levels are a fever curve for the security of supply in Germany.
If the fever measurement shows that the gas storage tanks cannot be filled up as planned by October, further steps are necessary.
The energy company E.on announced that it expects wholesale prices to remain high or even rise.
The end customer prices would have to be checked accordingly.
No information was given on the scope.
“Now, given the unavoidable cost burdens, a fair balance must be created between the gas suppliers and the gas customers,” said the President of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), Peter Adrian.
»Otherwise there is a risk that companies in the energy-intensive industry in particular will stop production and as a result face insolvency.«
Greenpeace energy expert Gerald Neubauer spoke of the right signal from the government.
"So that a Russian gas supply freeze does not lead to a supply crisis in the coming winter, consistent energy saving is now the order of the day." However, the state is no longer allowed to subsidize fossil gas.
Social association calls for further relief package
The social association VdK called for further relief for the citizens because of the high energy prices.
"For many people, the situation is coming to a head," said President Verena Bentele of the "Augsburger Allgemeine".
That is why "a third relief package must now be put together very quickly for all those who have been forgotten so far, such as pensioners, caring relatives, recipients of sickness benefit and parental benefit".
Russia, meanwhile, denied any blame given the drastically reduced gas supplies.
Deliveries will be increased again as soon as the missing turbines have been delivered, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"If a turbine needs to be checked and you don't use it again after the repair (...), everything is clear, there is no ambiguity," said Peskow.
Germany is "well informed about the maintenance cycles", so it is "really strange to describe it as political".
Austria remains at the early warning level
In Austria, on the other hand, the early warning level in the gas emergency plan continues to apply, despite the fact that gas delivery volumes have also been reduced there for days.
The conservative-green federal government decided that after consultations with the crisis team, the environment ministry said.
The alert level will not be declared for the time being.
"The situation is being closely monitored and reassessed every hour," said Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens).
Austria is 80 percent dependent on Russian gas supplies.
Sol/dpa/AFP/Reuters
