Germany imports 25% of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia and is under pressure to reduce this dependency.
German Vice-Chancellor (Prime Minister) Robert Habeck urged the people of the country to refrain from driving to help conserve energy and reduce Germany’s dependence on imported Russian oil and gas.
“If you can take the train or the bike on Easter, that’s good too: it’s good for the pocket, and it will annoy (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” said Habeck, economy minister and co-chair of the Green Party. .
Germany has resisted European calls to ban Russian energy imports because of the Ukraine war.
This drew criticism from the Ukrainian government, who argued that buying fuel from Russia helped finance the invasion of the country.
In an interview with the BBC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he thinks Russia does not need to take peace talks seriously because of the billions of dollars it gets from oil exports.
Although Germany’s imports have fallen this year, the country still gets 25% of its oil supply and 40% of its gas from Russia. And 90% of the cars in the Berlin area are driven by the Russian Schwedt refinery.
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Earlier this week, German economic institutes warned that an immediate ban on imports from Russia would cause a recession in Europe’s largest economy in 2023.
But amid the crackdown, German Chancellor (Prime Minister) Olaf Scholz indicated that Germany could decide to suspend it by the end of this year. The German government also suspended the opening of Nord Stream 2, a major Russian gas pipeline, in response to the war.
However, some members of the coalition accuse him of not showing sufficient leadership.
Minister Habeck, in his speech to the German press, stated that every German can do his part in the resistance against Russia and reduce energy consumption by 10%.
This may cause discomfort in the warming, but no one will freeze, he said – as the more severe cold months pass.
‘We pay the price with human life’
Some partners in Scholz’s coalition are also pressuring him to send more heavy weapons to the Ukrainians.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Berlin to decide as soon as possible whether to send this artillery. “Germany has a leading role in Europe and we rely on it,” he told a German broadcaster. “We are paying the price with the lives of our people,” he said.
The German government, however, claimed that its troops had sent everything it could without affecting its own military capacity.
German manufacturer Rheinmetall offered to ship the Leopard 1 main battle tanks, but Habeck said they would need to be replaced and would take months.
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source: Noticias
