Eurozone crisis in reverse as southern states scold Germany over gas
A decade after its government admonished southern European states to “do their homework” 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.
As EU countries in recent days sought to agree on emergency proposals to curb their gas demand in reaction to Russia’s 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.
“They cannot demand a sacrifice from us for which we have not been asked for an opinion,” said Spain’s minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, adding: “We have not lived beyond our means in terms of energy.”
While Germany 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.
Recycling a phrase popular with German ministers at the height of the eurozone crisis, Ribera said: “We have done our homework.”
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.
The turning of tables in the bloc of European states has not gone unnoticed in Germany. “Some states suffered heavily during the financial crisis and had to bear the lectures of the Germans,” wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “And now they are meant to massively save gas to bail out those same Germans, who have brought this
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