German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on the eve of his visit to Argentina, Chile and Brazil, said in an interview with South American newspapers La Nación, El Mercurio and O Globo that Germany had allegedly adapted to the lack of cooperation with Russia.

“February 24, 2022 is a turning point and Germany has quickly adapted to the new reality.

A reality in which we no longer cooperate with Russia.

Within a few months, we changed the energy supply system in Germany and made ourselves independent of gas, oil or coal from Russia.

And we are working to reduce the one-sided dependence of our economy,” Scholz said.

At the same time, answering a journalist's question, the German Chancellor was forced to admit that Germany, demanding from other countries measures to protect the environment, increased the production and use of fossil fuels after the rejection of Russian energy resources. 

“It is true that this year we will have to use more fossil energy because we can no longer rely on energy supplies from Russia.

Now we temporarily continue to use coal and gas.

But Germany wants to produce about 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and become completely climate neutral by 2045.

Together with our Latin American partners, we want to strengthen renewable energy sources around the world,” Scholz said.

Further, during a joint press conference following a meeting with Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, Scholz noted that Berlin is interested in cooperation with Buenos Aires in the field of liquefied gas, lithium and green hydrogen.

Anti-Russian course

Recall that in March 2022, Germany supported Brussels in its intention to eliminate the eurozone's dependence on Russian energy imports as soon as possible.

Later, in April, the EU introduced the fifth sanctions package against Russia, which includes an embargo on the supply of coal and other solid fossil fuels to the EU from Russia from August 2022.

In June, the EU approved the sixth package of restrictions, which included, in particular, a ban on the purchase, import or transfer of crude oil and a number of petroleum products from Russia to the EU countries.

The document specified that it would take six months to phase out EU crude oil and eight months from refined products.

Besides,

In October 2022, the countries of the European Union, within the framework of the eighth package of sanctions, agreed on a ceiling on oil prices and a ban on European companies to insure and transport raw materials from the Russian Federation to third countries by sea at a price above $60 per barrel.

These measures, as well as the embargo on Russian oil, came into effect on December 5.

The EU countries also agreed on a gas price ceiling of €180 per MWh.

It is worth noting that as the EU and, in particular, Germany began to actively search for alternative sources of raw materials as they phased out Russian energy resources.

In turn, the United States promised to supply Europe with liquefied natural gas.

In mid-January 2023, the head of the American company EQT, Toby Rice, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi that the United States was ready to supply LNG to Europe at a price of about $380 per 1,000 cubic meters.

m under long-term contracts.

However, Rice did not specify how much US LNG would be supplied to the European market.

Recall that before the refusal of Russian energy carriers, Europe received gas from the Russian Federation through pipes at a price much lower than the American one.

For example, as the head of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin noted in September 2021, the cost of 1 thousand cubic meters.

m under long-term contracts for the same Germany was $220. 

On January 22, Bloomberg published an article, the authors of which stated that, having abandoned Russian energy resources and declaring independence from Russian pipeline gas supplies, Germany became dependent on liquefied natural gas supplies.

The next day, the same agency reported, citing data from the German Ministry of Economy, that it would take years for Germany to start receiving gas in the same volumes that Russia supplied through gas pipelines.

“The German Ministry of Economy responded in writing to the questions of the Left Party deputies and said that only by 2026 would Germany be able to build its own LNG import facilities with a capacity of 56 billion cubic meters.

m, which roughly corresponds to the volume of pipeline deliveries from Russia in 2021,” the agency writes.

  • Gas pipes in Germany

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Bodo Marks

"Getting Weaker and Losing Importance"

However, as noted by Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, Scholz's statement about the termination of ties with the Russian Federation - primarily in the energy sector - looks rather absurd, since the refusal to contact Russia, "to put it mildly, did not bring Germany anything good ".

“The relations that until recently existed between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Russian Federation were mutually beneficial and in many ways contributed to the growth of the economic power of Germany and the well-being of the German people as a whole.

Scholz’s words about plans to continue to break off the remaining ties with Moscow are contrary to common sense and indicate that Scholz does not have independence: by making such statements, he is trying to play along with Washington, which will now earn on the supply of expensive LNG to Europe, ”the expert said in talking to RT.

In addition, according to Olenchenko, Germany's rupture of "useful ties" with Russia leads to a loss of Germany's competitiveness.

“Germany without Russian energy resources is becoming weaker and losing its status as an economic and political pole in Europe, since it was on high-quality and relatively inexpensive fuel from the Russian Federation that the well-being of Germany and the entire EU was kept.

Now Scholz says that Berlin will strengthen ties with South American countries in the energy sector, in particular with Argentina, over LNG, but, like in the situation with American liquefied natural gas, this is quite an expensive pleasure, much less profitable than buying Russian energy resources. ', the analyst said.

A similar position is shared by Alexander Kamkin, senior researcher at the Center for Comparative and Political Studies at IMEMO RAS.

He called Scholz's statement "too optimistic".

“Even taking into account the abnormally warm winter, prices in Germany and the EU as a whole for energy resources still remained very high.

And under such conditions, the German economy will be little competitive.

Therefore, Scholz's optimism cannot be shared.

Neither the United States, nor Argentina, nor any other country will be able to offer the prices at which Russia once supplied gas and other energy resources to Germany.

Germany lost a lot by abandoning these ties with the Russian Federation, ”the expert stated in an interview with RT.

At the same time, Kamkin called the transformation of the energy supply system, which Scholz speaks of, “emergency”.

The analyst believes that as a result of such actions, a slow deindustrialization of Germany is already taking place, since many industrial companies have closed, and some firms have been forced to transfer their assets to the United States, where they now have “a safe haven and better business conditions.”

“It seems that this trend will be long-term.

In fact, Berlin, in spite of Moscow, and following in the wake of Washington, froze its ears.

But despite this, Scholz intends to complete the task set before him by the United States: to completely exclude any options for cooperation with Russia, albeit to the detriment of the German economy and its own citizens, many of whom go to protests, but remain unheeded, ”concluded expert.