Berlin has so far rejected calls for a complete ban on energy imports from Russia, warning that the consequences for Europe’s largest economy and the European Union as a whole would be catastrophic. However, there is widespread talk of reducing the industry’s production time to save energy, with ordinary Germans being asked to lower their thermostats and drive slower. Pressure from Germany’s neighbors has increased, especially the Baltic states and Poland. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday accused Germany of “standing in the way” of tougher sanctions against Russia. “Anyone who reads the notes of the EU meetings knows that Germany is the biggest obstacle when it comes to more decisive sanctions,” he told reporters in Warsaw. A German government spokesman has said he will not consider an immediate energy embargo, but is determined to speed up efforts to wean Germany off Russian gas and oil. “An immediate embargo by cutting off gas supplies would hurt the German economy much more than Putin’s,” Oliver Kriser of the Economy and Climate Protection Ministry said Monday morning. “After these weekend photos, we will see again how we can reduce our addiction faster and using further measures,” he said. Efforts were being made to introduce a “quasi-embargo”, he said, through “non-purchase measures” and “energy saving measures” as well as “diversification”, including the purchase of liquefied petroleum gas. German Chancellor Olaf Soltz said the atrocities – believed to have killed hundreds of people north of Kiev – would not go unanswered, calling them war crimes, and promised Sunday night that Germany, along with its partners, will increase sanctions against Russia in the coming days. Defense Secretary Christine Lambrecht later said that it was time for the EU to discuss the option of a complete ban on Russian gas. “There has to be an answer,” he said in a television interview. “Such crimes cannot go unanswered. Polls show that a majority of Germans – between 55% and 77% – are in favor of cutting off gas imports from Russia, despite the impact it may have on their ability to heat their homes. The majority also said they were in favor of a temporary increase in the life of coal-fired power plants and the reopening of nuclear power plants – the phasing out of which began after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. In total, Europe supplies about 40% of its gas supplies from Russia. In Germany, the rate is 55%, the highest dependence on any European country. The EU gets 25% of its oil from Russia. The sanctions could be discussed by EU foreign ministers on the sidelines of a NATO meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday he was in favor of a new round of sanctions targeting Russia’s oil and coal sectors, but did not call for a ban on EU gas imports. Macron was named by Morawiecki as he called on European leaders to do more against Russia. “President Macron, how many times have you negotiated with Putin? What have you achieved? “Would you negotiate with Hitler, with Stalin, with Pol Pot?” asked. “Chancellor Soltz, Olaf, are not the voices of German business that should be heard loudly in Berlin today. It’s the voice of these innocent women and children. “ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday accused former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy of contributing to Russian aggression by making too many concessions to Putin. “I call on Merkel and Mr Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see with their own eyes where the concession policy in Russia has led for more than 14 years. “You will see tortured Ukrainian men and women with your own eyes,” he said in a video to Ukrainians last night. In particular, he criticized Merkel for not supporting Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO in 2008. Merkel’s office responded to the criticism unusually quickly. In a statement, a spokesman said: “Retired German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel insists on her decision in conjunction with the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008.” The spokesman added that Merkel supported any attempt by the German government to stop the Russian invasion, especially in light of the “atrocities of Bukha and other parts of Ukraine.” German Finance Minister Robert Habeck, who as leader of the Greens has been pushing for years for the abolition of coal-fired power plants and the dismantling of nuclear power plants, said Germany was working to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, but that this could not happen overnight. . “We are working every day to create the conditions and pave the way for an embargo,” he said when asked if the news of the killing of civilians in Bucha would lead to a government re-examination. “This is also, in the view of the federal government, and in my opinion, the way forward and the one that hurts Putin on a daily basis.”
