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France and Germany warn citizens: Russia will cut gas. Italy has the elections, they pretend nothing has happened. It will be a disaster

The populations of Europe are preparing to face the next frigid winter, amid an impending avalanche of high energy costs and emerging inflation. On Sunday, the French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire warned that Russia is ready to completely stop gas supplies to Europe and that citizens must now "prepare".

Let's get ready for a total cut of Russian gas; today it is the most likely option , ”Le Maire said at an economic conference in Aix-en-Provence.

He later explained to reporters: “ We also need to prepare load reduction plans, we are doing it. It means examining each company, each occupational area in a very specific way; which companies should reduce their energy consumption and which ones cannot do so ".

Le Maire said the government is compiling a list of these large companies that would be too much at risk if their plants were suddenly deprived of gas supply. They would have priority in the event of a probable disruption of supplies from Russia. "We have to anticipate and get in battle order right now," he stressed.

Le Maire cited Saint-Gobain, a major manufacturer of building materials, as an example of companies that should not be deprived of gas supply, even in an emergency. He stressed the possible damage to production equipment and the risk of environmental consequences. We note that in Italy the whole ceramics sector was instead happily sent to the ground.

Germany fears the worst too, as its main Russian natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 1, has long been scheduled for 10-day maintenance starting Monday, with the fear that it will not be reactivated.

Germany, which has around 80 million inhabitants, depends on Russia for over a third of its total gas supplies and there is no immediate alternative. If Moscow were to use "routine" maintenance as an excuse to block supplies, some German newspapers even predict social unrest, as the pressure will particularly affect the working class population.

The authoritative Deutsche Welle in English describes the alarming situation of many German families, starting with the rationing of hot water and electricity:

Many tenants in Germany are receiving nasty letters these days. With energy prices soaring, landlords and property management companies are increasing the monthly flat rate for heating costs. A Berlin-based real estate company has announced a 100% increase in heating prices for gas- or oil-heated apartments.

It is unclear whether this will be enough. High energy prices have a delayed impact because upfront payments are not offset against the costs actually incurred until the end of the year.

The GdW, an association representing 3,000 construction companies, has calculated that each household should budget up to 3,800 euros ($ 3,870) more for energy over the next year.

This is heavily changing the German political position. For example, Berlin has now asked for the turbines to be returned to Canada, despite the sanctions. In Berlin we discuss, and not easily. There is a certain possibility that the SPD is sidelined.

Italy? In Italy we ignore it, because there are elections, the PD must not show the failure of all European policies, the M5s cannot afford to scare the voters and Di Maio, Calenda and co. they have to pretend that everything is fine. Instead it will not go well at all, it will be a disaster, we will have closures and rationing. Yet everyone pretends nothing has happened. We'll talk about it in three months …


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The article France and Germany warn citizens: Russia will cut gas. Italy has the elections, they pretend nothing has happened. It will be a disaster comes from ScenariEconomici.it .


This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/francia-e-germania-avvertono-i-cittadini-la-russia-tagliera-il-gas-litalia-ha-le-elezioni-si-fa-finta-di-nulla-sara-un-disastro/ on Sat, 09 Jul 2022 22:48:51 +0000.