Thermal radicalization and fear of fuel shortages fuel the specter of a ‘martial law’ controlling heating use
The extreme heat wave meets its planned route and is advancing into Germany this Wednesday after leaving a trail of wildfires and burning houses in France and England, as well as Greece and Italy. Thermal radicalization is no longer only expressed in record highs, but in hectares of burned forests or crops -19,000 in Gironde, on the French Atlantic coast-. That is, in regions unaccustomed to these devastations.
The German Meteorological Service (DWD) had warned that Berlin could exceed 40 degrees, something remarkable in a country whose historic record is 41.2 recorded in Duisburg, in the west, in 2019. The two or three days of extreme heat are. frightening in Germany not so much because of the unusual temperatures for the country, but because in the past two decades summers with scorching days are no longer the exception. The most extreme in memory was in 2003, when high temperatures persisted for weeks across the country. Crossing the 40-degree mark is expected to be no longer exceptional, the DWD warned.
In the first European economy, with 11.4 million hectares of forest, drought is a cause for concern. A fear that may seem exaggerated from the perspective of Southern Europe, but it is not so much according to data processed by the European Commission: 46% of the community area is “at risk” of suffering from drought. Germany is no exception.
These fears go hand in hand with the panic of a ‘Ceaucescu winter’. These days ‘Der Spiegel’, the leading political weekly, attributed to the Minister of Economic Affairs, the green Robert Habeck, the aim of bringing private consumption under a kind of martial law.
“Will a temperature police be patrolling Germany soon?” this publication wondered. ‘Der Spiegel’ thus alluded to the possibility of limiting the use of heating in the house by law. And he remembered how Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu forced his citizens at home to shudder.
Habeck is today the most highly regarded politician in the country. Above all, he is recognized for his efforts to reduce Russia’s heavy reliance on energy, a mortgage it inherited from previous governments. Also the ability to communicate honestly and without triumphalism with the citizen about the hardships that resulted from the energy crisis, the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine.
He is seen as a good manager in light of the emergency resulting from these major global crises. If in February 55% of the gas imported by Germany came from Russia, it has now fallen to 26%. In return, they demand savings on private consumption, short showers and lower heating temperatures.
The comment “Mirror” caused a wave of outrage on social networks. But aside from the inconvenient comparison, the alarm is spreading in Germany about the harsh winter approaching and the proposals, either from Brussels or Berlin, to reduce consumption. That scorching summer days befall the country will not save it from the usual harshness of its winters.
Source: La Verdad
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