What to do if gas and oil ceased to be supplied from Russia? The Senate wanted to prepare Berlin for emergencies, but failed miserably, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Berlin is particularly dependent on natural gas and oil from Russia. If supplies were to fail as a result of the Ukraine war, no one would know how they could be replaced.
The Governing Mayor Giffey (SPD) announced on April 5 that the Senate would “prepare” for emergencies. She commissioned Economics Senator Stephan Schwarz (independent) and Environment Senator Jarasch (Greens) “to develop a corresponding Senate bill for the next Senate session”.
A concept should show how to proceed in the event of an energy shortage. However, a week later, on April 12, no solution to the problem was on the table.
Instead, Senator Schwarz told journalists that he had set up an “energy task force” “in order to be able to react quickly if necessary”. He did not explain what this task force would do in the event of a crisis. He calmed people down with general principles: “We are not in a crisis.” This caused astonishment, because the federal government had activated the “Gas Emergency Plan” at the end of March.
Schwarz also said 80 percent of the gas connections in Berlin are “protected by law”, including every private household. Customers have a right to gas, even in a crisis. However, supplying the economy would be “prioritized”. If necessary, production would be shut down.
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The head of GASAG, Georg Friedrichs, had already disseminated this information on March 4th. Senator Schwarz repeated them almost verbatim, from which one can conclude that there has been no progress in relation to secure energy supply in the last four weeks.
All questions are open. The Senate promises private customers that they will get gas even if Putin stops supplying it. Nice, but how is that supposed to work when the memory is empty?
And when Schwarz talks about shutting down industry if necessary, then that also needs an explanation, as the Chamber of Industry and Commerce found. Chief Executive Jan Eder: “No company in Berlin may be forced to close down due to energy shortages.” But that’s exactly what is apparently planned.
In fact, the Senate has not prepared itself for an emergency. Instead, the famous motto was followed: If I ever get stuck, I’ll set up a working group.
Berlin’s food industry is dependent on natural gas, almost 90 percent of all apartments and offices are heated with natural gas, district heating and oil, six out of eight combined heat and power plants run on natural gas: In view of this situation, the “Energy Taskforce” is a bad joke that you can’t laugh at .
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