Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to support an initiative by the EU Commission to limit Russian income from gas transactions – but only if states like Hungary agree.
If countries that are currently still getting gas from Russia are willing to take the risk of a complete supply stop by Russia, he would be happy to do that, said the Green politician on Friday at the sidelines of an EU meeting in Brussels.
If countries do not want this, that should be respected. “How presumptuous would it be to say: Germany always asks for leniency, but the other countries don’t get any?” he said. According to Habeck, Germany can now manage without Russian gas. This is “gigantic”.
Deliveries to Germany in “homeopathic doses”
At the meeting of energy ministers, the EU Commission proposed the introduction of a price cap for gas from Russia in order to limit the country’s financial resources for the war against Ukraine. This would mean that gas that exceeds a certain price limit could no longer be bought in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week about the deliberations in the EU: “If any political decisions are made that contradict the treaties, we will simply not fulfill them.” He added: “We won’t deliver anything at all if that goes against our interests (…) We won’t deliver either gas, oil or coal.”
According to Habeck, gas from Russia is only flowing to Germany in “homeopathic doses”. However, the raw material still comes to Southeast Europe via the Turkstream pipeline and Ukraine, he said. It is very unlikely that countries like Hungary will support the plans for a price cap.
