Dusseldorf Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) announced the first of three crisis levels of the so-called gas emergency plan on Wednesday. There could be a significant deterioration in the gas supply in Germany. The reason for this is a possible escalation of the gas dispute with Russia.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin only wants to accept rubles as payment for gas supplies in the future, the G7 countries reject Russia’s demand. Habeck accused the Russian side of breach of contract. So far, Russian gas deliveries have been billed in euros or dollars. Putin is trying to “break the sanctions” by insisting on payment in rubles, the economy minister said.
The activation of the first emergency plan level goes hand in hand with increased monitoring of the supply situation. Habeck announced that a crisis team made up of authorities and energy suppliers would come together at the Ministry of Economic Affairs. So far, according to Habeck, there have been no delivery bottlenecks and all contracts have been complied with.
According to the Kremlin, the conversion of payments from euros and dollars to rubles will not take effect immediately, but Moscow is already discussing extending the practice to the export of other raw materials and goods such as coal, fertilizer and grain.
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Possible gas embargo: Which companies would face the shutdown?
What happens if the dispute with Russia escalates further? In the new episode of Handelsblatt Today, Handelsblatt editor Bert Fröndhoff explains which companies might be the first to be taken offline in the event of a gas embargo and how companies can then be saved from bankruptcy.
Also: The latest signals from the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have put a damper on various armaments stocks. But the order books are likely to be well filled for years to come, not least because of the rearmament offensive in Europe.
Handelsblatt co-investigative chief Martin Murphy and Brussels office manager Moritz Koch talk in the current episode about a possible image change that the armaments stocks could go through. At a time when Europe is arming itself to protect democracy, is it still immoral to invest in defense companies?
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