"Scholz and Habeck must finally deliver" - IHK boss Gößl criticizes German energy policy

Created: 07/14/2022, 09:31 am

By: Matthias Schneider, Georg Anastasiadis

IHK General Manager Dr.

Manfred Gößl calls for nuclear power plants to be allowed to run longer.

© IHK

What does Germany do without Russian gas?

IHK General Manager Manfred Gößl calls on Scholz and Habeck to act in an interview.

Munich – No gas is currently flowing through Nord Stream 1 – and Germany is worried about whether it will stay that way.

The government must act now, says Manfred Gößl, general manager of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) for Munich and Upper Bavaria.

Federal Minister of Economics Habeck says that the worst must be expected when it comes to gas supply.

What would that be from a Bavarian perspective?

If Russian gas stops flowing to Germany after maintenance work on Nord Stream 1 ends on July 21, up to 500,000 jobs in industry will be directly affected.

Then there are domino effects from gastronomy to retail.

In the end, as a rule of thumb, the original effect is tripled.

But that only applies if there really is no more gas flowing, which I don't expect.

Putin is toying with the deliveries because he wants to use them to blackmail us.

The state government accuses the traffic light of leaving Bavaria out in the rain when it comes to gas supplies.

Do you have any idea what Markus Söder means by that?

Or is it an election campaign?

From the Bavarian Prime Minister's point of view, it is okay to relate the situation to Bavaria.

But the energy supply is not a regional problem.

We currently supply Austria, Switzerland, parts of the Czech Republic and France.

It really affects everyone.

And therefore we cannot expect others to care.

But we don't deliver what we could.

You accuse the traffic light government of not doing everything possible in the search for more energy?

Germany is looking everywhere for replacements, but we are not tackling our own potential with enough determination.

We demand that from the federal government.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Economics Minister Habeck must finally deliver.

We expect results.

Even when it comes to storage: The most important storage for Bavaria is located in Haidach, Austria.

A bilateral agreement has now been agreed.

Many other things still don't have a green tick.

Markus Söder refers to Italy, things should go better there.

Italy has delivered on various points.

First example: On Sunday a week ago, the utility Eni signed a liquid gas supply contract with Qatar on behalf of the Italian government.

We still have nothing.

Second example: In Italy, six coal-fired power plants are already operating at higher capacity.

In Germany, the cabinet only lifted the ban on burning hard coal on Wednesday – lignite is to be discussed separately.

Why haven't the power plants been running for a long time?

In spring we demanded that we now have to generate electricity from coal instead of gas.

Third example: In Italy, energy saving regulations have been in place for all public buildings since spring.

In Germany we are only now discussing it.

And that Italy sets standards in terms of speed compared to Germany,

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nuclear power plants?

"We have to let them run longer!"

The demand for a longer service life for nuclear reactors is highly controversial.

What does the economy say?

We have to let them run longer!

In the meantime, the escalation has progressed so far that even the EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton is calling on the federal government to leave the nuclear power plants on the grid.

We are currently in the special situation that we have to keep our German gas-fired power plants running because some nuclear power plants in France are no longer connected to the grid due to maintenance problems.

Why don't we undogmatically use all the potential we have?

The only thing standing in their way is the Greens themselves.

Habeck says that continuing to use the nuclear reactors will not help us.

The remaining three nuclear power plants contribute six percent to total generation.

With these three power plants, we can supply ten million households with electricity and save gas - that's a blast!

In addition, specialists tell us that if we shut down the last three nuclear power plants, the risk of a blackout in the coming winter will increase significantly.

A counter-argument is that the nuclear power plant operators themselves feel unable to continue operation.

Have you contacted the operators of Isar II?

They told us weeks ago that the systems could have been left running if the political will had been there.

There are also always offers for new fuel rods.

But we are running out of time with every day that the government continues to wait.

What is clear is that the state would have to be held liable.

de-industrialization?

"A scenario that we fear for all of Europe"

Former Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss shaped Bavaria into an automotive and industrial state.

How worried are you that the Free State is threatened with de-industrialization as energy becomes more expensive?

This is a scenario that we fear for all of Europe.

Energy prices have multiplied and are likely to stay high.

This is just because of our strategy: The federal government still wants to build 20 gas-fired power plants for the base load supply.

There is no plan B. That means we still need gas, in this case liquid gas, which we want to import by ship.

And that is structurally more expensive, especially since there is huge demand from Asia.

Let's be honest: Hasn't the economy uncritically gone along with Merkel's energy policy mistakes for far too long?

Yes.

But it is the task of energy policy to provide energy in Germany.

Russia has been a reliable supplier for decades, including during the Cold War.

There have been attempts by business to build LNG terminals or the Nabucco pipeline, but these have been rejected with reference to natural gas from Russia.

The lesson must be that we must not make ourselves dependent on one supplier when it comes to raw materials.

Freeing ourselves from these dependencies will cost us years and a great deal of money.

There is now a dispute about who should receive gas as a priority in the event of a gas shortage.

The Federal Network Agency must finally fulfill its tasks and make decisions quickly.

We must stipulate that the food industry will be adequately supplied in the event of a gas shortage.

Now people are already hearing warnings that bakeries can no longer make bread.

That's when people panic!

We have to take away people's fears.

That would also be important with a view to the dairy industry in Upper Bavaria.

Because without gas, the dairies can throw away their milk.

Interview: Georg Anastasiadis and Matthias Schneider

With a view to the ongoing maintenance work on Nord Stream 1, the Russian gas company Gazprom is questioning the continued operation of the pipeline.