{"id":35976,"date":"2022-10-05T19:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/eurozone-crisis-in-reverse-as-southern-states-scold-germany-over-gas-european-union\/"},"modified":"2022-10-05T19:58:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T19:58:00","slug":"eurozone-crisis-in-reverse-as-southern-states-scold-germany-over-gas-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/eurozone-crisis-in-reverse-as-southern-states-scold-germany-over-gas-european-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurozone crisis in reverse as southern states scold Germany over gas | European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A decade after its government admonished southern European states to \u201cdo their homework\u201d of painful fiscal changes to end a sovereign debt crisis, Germany is slowly adapting to the humbling reality of being worst-in-class when it comes to reliance on Russian gas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As EU countries in recent days sought to agree on emergency proposals to curb their gas demand in reaction to Russia\u2019s Gazprom throttling supplies to Europe, southern states made clear they were unwilling to sign up to a homogenous 15% cut in gas across countries with a less vulnerable energy mix than Germany. A deal was finally agreed<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cannot demand a sacrifice from us for which we have not been asked for an opinion,\u201d said Spain\u2019s minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, adding: \u201cWe have not lived beyond our means in terms of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Germany<\/a> as of the end of June remains reliant on Russian imports for about a quarter of its gas needs and scrambles to expand infrastructure to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), Spain has massively expanded its LNG structure and is now barely reliant on Russian gas imports.<\/p>\n

Recycling a phrase popular with German ministers at the height of the eurozone crisis, Ribera said: \u201cWe have done our homework.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other southern states such as Portugal and Italy also signalled their opposition, forcing opt-outs to the emergency plans that would allow them to follow different national paths to prepare for Russian supply cuts.<\/p>\n

Under the revised plan, Germany is expected to make higher savings than its neighbours in order to help the bloc meet the 15% target. \u201cIf Germany manages more than 15%, then there\u2019d be no shame in that,\u201d said the energy minister, Robert Habeck, ahead of Tuesday\u2019s summit in Brussels.<\/p>\n

Habeck, of the Green party, pointedly criticised the \u201cstrategic mistakes\u201d of previous German governments and suggested his country could achieve \u201c16 or 20%\u201d of savings, depending on the severity of the coming winter. <\/p>\n

The turning of tables in the bloc of European states has not gone unnoticed in German media. \u201cSome states suffered heavily during the financial crisis and had to bear the lectures of the Germans,\u201d wrote the S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. \u201cAnd now they are meant to massively save gas to bail out those same Germans, who have brought this situation on themselves with a misguided energy policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper said: \u201cThe collateral damages that several [German] governments have left behind in the EU are too big. In building [the pipeline] Nord Stream 1, they ignore the energy and security interests of Poland and other central and eastern European states. And they always had to know best, most recently during the taxonomy disagreement over nuclear energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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