No apartment should get cold, was the credo of the federal government – in the event of a gas shortage, industrial companies would first turn off the tap. Given the prospects, the alarm is now sounding: Georg Knill, president of the Federation of Industrialists, now accuses the government of not having a draft for a possible gas stop.
The domestic food industry in particular is 100 percent dependent on Russian gas, but steel production also requires a huge amount of fossil fuel capacity. The companies’ concerns about a massive supply problem are mounting as the war in Ukraine continues.
The three-step plan presented by the federal government for a possible cessation of gas supplies from Russia is not enough for industrial boss Knill. At the beginning of the crisis, it was finally shown what concrete consequences the lack of gas would have for the industry, according to Knill in the ORF “ZiB 2” on Wednesday.
Huge wave of unemployment threatens
After all, a large part of the companies is enormously dependent on Russian gas. Overnight there could be an “immediate supply emergency”. Knill fears that this will lead to a huge loss of wealth, combined with mass unemployment, and that some 300,000 employees will be directly affected by a gas stop.
No change from today to tomorrow
The industrial boss sees less chance that Russia will turn on the gas tap than that supplies could stop due to an EU import ban. However, it is not possible to get rid of this form of energy in such a short time. The plan was to get rid of fossil fuels, but by 2040 to 2050.
“We rely too much on the EU”
Especially in industry, the change in technology takes a lot of time – but now there is just no more planning certainty “we need” – especially the lack of a plan for the coming years makes him grumpy. According to Knill, other countries have already developed much more concrete, much more pragmatic solutions. “We rely far too much on the European Union”, he demands, “to get from talking into doing”.
Source: Krone
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