German economy minister: 'bitter reality' is Russia will not resume gas supply
Germany faces the "bitter reality" that Russia will not restore gas supplies to the country, the German economy minister said on Monday ahead of the planned stoppage by state energy giant Gazprom of exports to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
"It won't come back ... It is the bitter reality," Robert Habeck said in a panel with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Russia will halt natural gas supplies to Europe for three days at the end of the month for unscheduled maintenance to the Nord Stream pipeline, Gazprom said on Friday, piling pressure on the region as it seeks to refuel ahead of winter.
Russia has currently only been supplying 20% of the usual capacity of the Nord Stream 1 link from Russia to Germany.
It was not immediately possible to clarify whether Habeck meant the outage would be permanent or just that full supplies would not resume.
At the same event, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a reform of the European electricity market would happen at the beginning of next year.
Before that, however, in view of the recent price jumps, emergency instruments were needed that would have to take effect quickly and gas and electricity prices would have to be decoupled from each other, she said.
"These are no longer real prices. They are just speculation," von der Leyen added.
