War in Ukraine: Habeck names the time when Germany should be independent of Russian coal
Created: 03/12/2022, 16:05
By: Yasina Hipp
At her meeting with Moldovan Foreign Minister Popescu, Foreign Minister Stein Baerbock promised quick help.
Both financially and in terms of the distribution of refugees.
Ukraine-Russia War*: A number of people are fleeing - including to Germany.
Annalena Baerbock announced an airlift for refugees.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz* had previously praised the willingness to help in taking in the refugees from Ukraine.
(see first report)
Federal Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck wants to be independent of Russian coal from autumn.
(Update from March 12, 12:20 p.m.)
Federal Finance Minister Lindner wants to make financial support for refugees and helpers easier with the disaster decree.
(Update from March 12, 2:07 p.m.)
Synod of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) increases refugee fund by one million euros.
(Update from March 12, 3:09 p.m.)
This
news ticker on reactions from Germany to the Ukraine war
is continuously updated.
More on the background of the Ukraine crisis*.
Update from March 12, 3:09 p.m .:
The Synod of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) wants to support refugees from Ukraine with an aid package worth millions.
For this purpose, the refugee fund that has existed since 2015 will be increased by one million euros.
In doing so, the EKHN wants to "send a clear signal of solidarity with the refugees from Ukraine," according to a resolution.
The money should be used to increase the advice, support and care for refugees in the catchment area of the EKHN and to support the commitment in communities, deanships and the Diakonie Hessen for those seeking help from the Ukraine.
In addition, it is checked whether people can be accommodated in conference, parish or community buildings.
Ukraine war: decree to facilitate financial support
Update from March 12, 2:07 p.m .:
A so-called disaster decree is intended to facilitate financial support for civilians from Ukraine.
The Federal Ministry of Finance, headed by Christian Lindner (FDP), presented a corresponding draft today.
This is intended to simplify support through tax measures.
Not only the refugees from the Ukraine should benefit from this, but also dedicated helpers in Germany.
In addition, hurdles for collecting and passing on donations should fall.
"We want to ensure that humanitarian support is not slowed down by bureaucratic hurdles," says Lindner.
The federal states still have to approve the draft.
Ukraine war: Federal Minister of the Interior Faeser for "quick and comprehensive" help
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser meanwhile confirms the statement by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock that Germany will take in 2,500 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova in the short term: "We will organize and implement this quickly and unbureaucratically in the next few days," Faeser told the
dpa
.
The distribution and accommodation of the people from the Ukraine is a task that the Europeans have to face together with neighboring countries such as Moldova.
According to Faeser, the help should be “quick and comprehensive”.
War in Ukraine: Robert Habeck wants to be independent of Russian coal by autumn
Update from March 12, 12:20 p.m .:
Robert Habeck, Federal Economics and Climate Protection Minister, is optimistic about progress towards increasing independence from Russian oil, coal and gas.
Opposite the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper
says Habeck: "Every day, in fact every hour, we say goodbye to Russian imports".
Specifically, he names autumn as the date from which the Federal Republic should be independent of Russian coal.
Towards the end of the year they want to be "almost independent" of oil from Russia.
"It's more complicated with gas because we don't have our own LNG import capacities," said the minister.
With trips to countries that produce LNG, he wants to "expand the import possibilities".
In the medium term, however, hydrogen must be used as a solution.
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Habeck continues to reject an EU embargo on Russian energy supplies.
He draws attention to the far-reaching cuts that would result for the German population: "If we stop imports immediately, we are talking about supply bottlenecks next winter, about economic slumps and high inflation, about hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs, and about people for that the way to work is hardly affordable, heating and electricity as well.” The minister advocates the enforcement of sanctions that could be sustained in the long term.
War in Ukraine: Green leader Nouripour categorically rejects NATO intervention
Update from March 12, 10:18 a.m .:
Green leader Omid Nouripour calls for a quick distribution of people who have fled from Ukraine.
"It needs more speed now, we need special trains from Poland to the entire federal territory," says Nouripour of the
Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung
.
This should ensure that the majority of the refugees do not arrive in Berlin, but that they are distributed directly across the country.
He also demands that people from Ukraine have access to language courses and that they are entitled to state support.
Similar - but also more far-reaching - demands for dealing with the admission of refugees from Ukraine had also been put forward by Green migration expert Filiz Polat in an interview with
Merkur.de
* on Friday.
According to Nouripour, how long the currently prevailing helpfulness in taking in the refugees will last depends on "how well we coordinate and organize the admission".
According to Nouripour, Ukraine's renunciation of NATO would only be conceivable if there were "really tough security guarantees for the state".
Nouripour doubts whether NATO is the right organization for such security guarantees for Ukraine.
He also declared a categorical refusal to direct military assistance from NATO: "Ukraine is not a member state."
In addition, NATO intervention could lead to an “uncontrollable catastrophe”.
War in Ukraine: Foreign Minister Baerbock visits Moldova
First report
: Chisinau – Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock* is currently visiting the Republic of Moldova, which borders Ukraine.
Against the background of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the continuing very tense situation, including for the civilian population, Baerbock wanted to get an idea of the situation on the ground in Moldova.
According to the Federal Foreign Office, she wants to examine the extent to which Germany can “support even more comprehensively” the Moldovan government in the current exceptional situation.
In the morning, Baerbock met Nicu Popescu, the country's foreign minister.
After the conversation, Baerbock announced that Germany would take in 2,500 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova directly.
But this should only be a start.
According to Baerbock, Moldova is being supported with the help of other countries by means of a "green corridor" in the reception and distribution of refugees.
The “Green Corridor” should be made up of buses across Romania.
In addition, people should be flown out directly, possibly also across the Atlantic.
An airlift is being worked on for this.
Baerbock says: "You have to be very pragmatic in this situation and not work out a one hundred percent perfect concept for three months."
War in Ukraine: Baerbock pledges aid to Moldova
From a financial point of view, Baerbock Moldova also promises help.
The EU has already provided emergency aid of five million euros, and the federal government is adding another three million euros.
People from neighboring Ukraine are fleeing to the Moldovan border town of Palanca.
© picture alliance/dpa/AP/Sergei Grits
Moldova shares a 1,222-kilometer national border with Ukraine.
According to Foreign Minister Popescu, 300,000 refugees have now arrived there, of whom 100,000 are still in the country.
Like Ukraine, the former Soviet Republic of Moldova is aiming for EU membership.
The country is home to the breakaway region of Transnistria, which Moscow has supported since the 1990s.
Ukraine war: Olaf Scholz praises willingness to help when taking in refugees
Meanwhile, there are already numerous moving stories in Germany from people who have fled Ukraine.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has praised Germany's willingness to help in taking in the refugees from Ukraine.
"The heart is there, the willingness to help is there, the solidarity is there," he said in Versailles on Friday.
"We will do our utmost to ensure that we can shoulder it," he replied when asked if he was as confident as his predecessor Angela Merkel (CDU) in view of the wave of refugees in 2015.
Scholz also paid tribute to Poland, which, as a neighboring country to Ukraine, has already taken in 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine.
When receiving and distributing the refugees in Germany, the government wants to be guided by past experiences, said Scholz after the end of the informal EU summit in Versailles.
Meanwhile, a former chancellor is also getting involved in the peace discussions.
Gerhard Schröder's solo effort by Putin is making waves.
*Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
