Ukraine: 'Now is the time for Germany to act' says Melnyk
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Germany, which relies on Russia to supply around 40 percent of its gas supplies, has regularly refused calls to sanction Russian energy exports to the EU. Since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, western powers including the UK, US and EU have applied harsh sanctions on large parts of the Russian economy.
However, Russian oil and gas, which is Moscow’s largest export, has been left largely untouched by sanctions, mainly due to the bloc’s reliance on Putin’s energy.
Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, has come under increasing pressure from countries like Poland to stop all energy imports from Russia.
However, Berlin has refused these calls, with Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck warning that it’s “still too early” for a complete ban on Russian energy.
He argued that the country was gradually ending gas contracts with Moscow, and all of them would have a cumulative effect.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Germany halted the certification process of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would have significantly increased the amount of energy Russia provides to the EU.
Katarina Barley, a vice president of the European Parliament and former federal minister from the German Social Democrats, warned that the EU was not currently equipped to handle a complete embargo on Russian energy.
Speaking at the Maybrit Illner show, Ms Barley slammed France for being dishonest.
She said: “What is not honest is, for example, France: There are a lot of [liquified natural gas] terminals at the Spanish coast, but France has not transported this gas for many years through France to continental Europe.”
She added that France does this “in order not to affect the French monopoly” for its national power supplier EDF or for French nuclear power.
She said: “At this point, many are calling loudly for the embargo, but are not ready to bear the consequences or have completely illusory ideas about how this could be cushioned.”
Earlier this week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained that an immediate ban on Russian energy would trigger an economic recession in Germany and across Europe.
Speaking to the Bundestag, Mr Scholz said Germany would end its energy dependence on Russia in due course, but cutting all ties now would hit the German economy when it was unprepared.
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He said: “We will end this dependence [on Russian oil, coal and gas] as quickly as we can, but to do that from one day to the next would mean plunging our country and all of Europe into a recession.”
The Chancellor then warned “hundreds of thousands of jobs would be at risk, entire industries would be on the brink” should an immediate ban be put in place.
He said: “The truth is that the sanctions that have already been decided also hit many citizens hard, and not just at the gas pump.”
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