Putin's "perfidious strategy"?

Özdemir sees hunger as a "weapon" - FDP wants lignite comeback

Created: 04/01/2022, 12:43 p.m

By: Cindy Boden

Because of the Ukraine war, there is a risk of even more famine.

Özdemir condemns Putin's "perfidious strategy".

Lignite is also an issue in Germany again.

News ticker.

• Ukraine conflict

  *: Germany is feeling the consequences of the war, the traffic light coalition* is looking for solutions.

• Agriculture Minister Özdemir accuses Putin of using the shortage of food as a weapon.

• The designated FDP general secretary spoke out in favor of examining the longer use of lignite.

• This

  news ticker on Germany's reactions to the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

  More background on the Ukraine crisis*.

Berlin – Rising prices are currently a consequence of the Ukraine war* that can be felt in Germany.

Ukraine and Russia account for around 30 percent of grain exports worldwide.

Deliveries have fallen drastically because of the fighting and closed ports in Ukraine, as well as the sanctions against Russia.

It will be expensive for people in Europe, and people in poor regions of the world are threatened with starvation.

The western allies announced a few days ago that they want to alleviate the impending food shortage in developing countries.

Ukraine and Germany: "We have enough to eat"

Hesse's Environment Minister Priska Hinz (Greens*) said on Thursday (March 31) during a debate in the state parliament on Hessian agricultural policy that there was no food crisis in Germany.

"We have enough to eat," she emphasized.

If people are currently increasingly reaching for flour and oil in the supermarket, then that is lacking in solidarity - but not a sign of a crisis.

Currently, many fuel depots are at least severely damaged in the attacks in several regions of Ukraine.

Observers therefore fear that the important agricultural exporter Ukraine could run out of fuel when sowing begins.

Ukraine-News: Germany's Minister of Agriculture condemns Putin's "perfidious strategy"

Cem Özdemir (Greens), Federal Minister of Agriculture and Food, speaks in the Bundestag (archive image).

© Thomas Trutschel/photothek.de/Imago

Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir* condemned the methods of Russia's President: "Putin uses the shortage of food as a weapon.

It doesn't kill as directly as its bombs, but hunger in the poorest countries will increase," the Green Minister told

.

"We condemn this perfidious strategy with which Putin* is taking people hostage worldwide."

Germany is now supporting the people of Ukraine.

“More than 4,000 pallets of relief goods have reached the border areas with Ukraine via our coordination office.

And in the future it will also be about helping agriculture get back on its feet there, we are ready for that, ”Ozdemir also explained to the newspaper.

You can read more about the military events in Ukraine in our news ticker.

Ukraine-News: The end of lignite was stipulated - but the FDP does not want any "bans on thinking"

Another topic Germany is currently dealing with is energy supply.

Economics Minister Robert Habeck* (Greens) has his hands full.

For example, Putin wants to have gas deliveries paid for in rubles by decree.

The designated FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai has now also got involved in the discussion about this energy crisis.

He spoke out in favor of examining a longer use of lignite.

Although the traffic light coalition agreement states that the phase-out of coal-fired power generation should “ideally” succeed by 2030, the consequences of the Ukraine war make ideal solutions very difficult, Djir-Sarai told the

.

"We should urgently check whether we will be dependent on lignite longer than previously planned." And: "We Germans shouldn't act as if we had the wisdom of the energy transition."

The German special path in the energy transition is "extraordinarily demanding" - even without the economic burdens caused by Corona and the Ukraine war.

"Therefore, we must not impose any bans on thinking." Meanwhile

Habeck did not completely rule out the turnaround in nuclear power plants with “Markus Lanz”.