Blackouts are expected in Germany during the winter months, Ralf Tiesler, head of the German Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (BBK), said in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

“We should proceed from the fact that there will be power outages in winter.

By these, I mean regional and time-limited power outages.

At the same time, they will be caused not only by a shortage of energy, but also by targeted, periodic shutdowns of networks by suppliers in order to protect the networks and not harm the general supply.

But from January and February, the risk of this will increase, so we assume that there will be power outages in some places for a certain time, ”he said.

At the same time, Tisler noted that some German lands are “not sufficiently prepared” for power outages, and urged the people of Germany to stock up on water and canned food in case of a crisis.

“Tune in to possible crises, don’t assume that everything can always be obtained without problems,” the official said.

In turn, the journalists of the ZDF TV channel tried to reassure the people of Germany, saying that the power outage would be "the last resort of the power grid operators in case the need for electricity cannot be fully covered."

However, the TV channel had to admit that such blackouts had not been observed in Germany since the Second World War.

At the same time, due to energy problems in Germany, problems and difficulties associated with the housing market began.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, electricity in Germany will remain expensive for the foreseeable future, as will the cost and rent of residential property, which could even bankrupt some families.

“First there was an explosion in rents, then in purchase prices, and after that interest rates ... For millions of people, the classic announcement for an apartment in the future will look like this: three rooms, a kitchen, bankrupt,” writes Spiegel.

Another serious problem in Germany, caused by the energy crisis, is related to the shortage of medicines.

In a conversation with Der Spiegel, Thomas Price, chairman of the North Rhine Pharmaceutical Association, noted that the situation has worsened in recent months: the pharmaceutical industry is suffering greatly from high energy and raw material prices.

This resulted in a significant reduction in supply in the pharmaceutical market, there is a shortage of medicines.

  • Gelsenkirchen, Germany

  • AP

  • © Martin Meissner

According to Der Spiegel journalists, Thomas Price admitted that he had been in the profession for more than 30 years, but this was the first time he had encountered such a state of affairs.

"Paralyzed the energy system"

Alexander Kamkin, senior researcher at IMEMO RAS, recalled that the energy crisis in Germany worsened after the country joined the EU anti-Russian sanctions and refused to buy a large part of Russian energy resources, and after the sabotage on the Nord Stream, supplies from the Russian Federation decreased even more.

“The actual refusal of Berlin and other European capitals from Russian gas has practically paralyzed the energy system not only in Germany, but also in other European countries.

To all this, the FRG was pushed by the United States, which now cannot help in any way.

Moreover, Washington is using the situation for its own purposes, luring German business over to itself.

The German government continues to follow vassalage from Washington: allied obligations to the big brother for Berlin turned out to be more important than the well-being of its own citizens, ”Kamkin emphasized in a comment to RT.

In addition, the heads of the countries of the European Union have not come to an agreement on a new package of measures to combat the energy crisis, which was proposed by the European Commission, the analyst added.

Recall that in the final statement of the meeting of the European Energy Council it was said that the proposals put forward by the EU leaders need to be finalized.

In particular, the "differences in the energy balance and national conditions" of different countries must be taken into account.

However, the European Council agrees on the need to accelerate the reduction in energy demand.

However, the structure considers it necessary to finalize initiatives in the field of expanding investments for an accelerated transition to alternative energy sources.

According to German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock, it is necessary to abandon the use of fossil fuels as soon as possible and switch to renewable energy sources.

She stated this on the eve of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held from 6 to 18 November in Egypt.

According to Alexander Kamkin, following the lead of such “green populism” and deciding, in particular, to stop nuclear power plants, Germany severely limited itself in the freedom of power generation, since “the possibility of expanding it with alternative sources also has its limitations.”

According to Kamkin, the EU measures and Burbock's initiatives are absolutely futile against the backdrop of numerous problems that are growing like a snowball in Germany due to the energy crisis.

“This suggests that “energy inflation” is already beginning to reach its maximum effect.

Do not forget that electricity in Germany is generated primarily from fossil sources, no matter what Burbock says.

While alternative energy sources, such as wind, sun, water, make up a much smaller percentage of the total energy generation,” the expert emphasized.

In times of austerity

As Kamkin explained, the German authorities will have to "tight save" in the conditions that they themselves have created for their residents.

“Already a number of enterprises were forced to close due to the exorbitant cost of energy resources, including due to rising energy prices.

Residents are actively urged to save electricity: do not wash, do not warm up.

There really hasn’t been such a situation in Germany since the Second World War, when the country was in ruins, ”the analyst noted.

A similar opinion is shared by the director of the Energy Development Fund Sergei Pikin.

According to him, there is an acute problem with energy supply in Germany, which the citizens of Germany have not had to face before.

  • Cologne city center

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Ying Tang

“The fact is that the Germans are accustomed to a comfortable living environment, and even for reasonable money.

And this year, problems began that require saving energy resources.

And the whole year in Germany they are actively engaged in this, since energy prices have risen very strongly.

But the key problem is that it is now impossible to achieve the same level of comfort as before, and even more so for the same money, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

Pikin is confident that the upcoming problematic winter will not be the last for Berlin.

“Next winter seasons will not be easy either.

Already now, a large percentage of industrial enterprises in Germany have either simply stopped or significantly reduced production volumes due to the inability to pay for the required volumes of energy resources, ”the analyst stated.

According to Alexander Kamkin, all production chains in Germany are closely linked to energy prices.

“Their growth certainly leads to a rise in the price of food, fuel and all other industrial products, raw materials for a large range of chemical products: the same mineral fertilizers, various paints, synthetic fibers and components for medicines.

There is a chain of inflation that affects almost all production areas.

Perhaps we will no longer see the former Germany as an economic and industrial locomotive of the EU,” the expert concluded.