The Social Democrat chancellor said on Sunday that he was “very aware” that many Germans were struggling to cope with rising prices and that the government was ready to help. “As a country we will get through this difficult time,” Soltz told a news conference with coalition partners the Greens and the pro-business Free Democratic Party. “We take these concerns very, very seriously.” Scholz said Germany would use income from windfall taxes to lower consumer prices for natural gas, coal and oil. The German government has already announced one-off payments of €300 for workers, but will now extend aid to other groups. Pensioners, for example, will get 300 euros and students 200 euros. Aiming to lower costs, the government also promised a “price brake” on energy costs, saying it planned to offer a yet-to-be-determined amount of energy to everyone at a lower rate. According to the Associated Press, the government will also develop a successor to the popular €9 ticket, which allowed unlimited travel on local and regional transport across the country. The €9 ticket was announced in June for three months as part of measures to combat skyrocketing inflation and rising fuel costs. The cost of the new monthly ticket could range from €49 to €69. Scholz blamed Vladimir Putin for Germany’s high energy prices, saying Russia “has broken its contract” and is “no longer a reliable energy supplier”. At the start of the war in Ukraine, Germany was getting 55% of its natural gas from Russia, but that has dropped to 9.5% amid a push to phase out Russian fossil fuels and drastic supply cuts. Europe is facing a looming energy crisis after Russia cut off natural gas flows from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in Germany. Gazprom said on Friday after the market closed that the pipeline – Europe’s largest with the capacity to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually – would be shut down indefinitely due to the leak and would not restart until repairs were completed. Siemens Energy, which supplies and maintains equipment on the pipeline, said the leak could be sealed and was not a technical reason to stop the gas flow. Energy analysts forecast a rise in natural gas prices when markets reopen on Monday. Before Gazprom’s announcement on Friday, natural gas prices had fallen partly on expectations that supplies would resume as planned on Saturday. Nathan Piper, oil and gas analyst at Investec, said: “We expect record gas prices across the UK and Europe next week as the impact of long-term Russian gas supply constraints is absorbed by the market after the ‘ indefinite shutdown of the North Stream 1 pipeline. “The price of natural gas will remain volatile and I would expect a sharp rise on Monday towards record highs of 700p-800p. However, the key and worrying point is that this is in the middle of summer – prices could move higher as demand for heating increases in the winter… A big rise in prices next week has significant implications for [UK] energy price cap and the cost to business/industry, which has no price cap at all.’ Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analysis at consultancy ICIS, said: “UK, European and global gas prices are expected to rise strongly on Monday as markets adjust to this latest development… The now-indefinite shutdown of Nord Stream 1 reduces the overall Russian pipeline flow even more and will make balancing supply and demand this winter even more difficult and expensive.” Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Speaking on Saturday in his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of rigging energy supplies against European countries it cannot “yet” attack with military force. “Russia wants to destroy the normal life of every European – in all the countries of our continent,” Zelensky said. “It is trying to attack with poverty and political chaos where it cannot yet attack with missiles.” The response to this “decisive energy attack on all Europeans” was the unity of European states, increased Western sanctions and action to limit Russia’s oil and gas revenues, he said. As gas and electricity prices have risen to historic highs, European countries are scrambling to shield consumers and save energy. France froze gas prices at October 2021 levels and limited electricity price increases to at least 4% until the end of the year and distributed 100 euros to low- and middle-income households to help pay energy bills . Spain, which is much less dependent on Russian gas than others, has promised to cut the VAT on natural gas to 5% from 21% from October until the end of the year and is promoting energy conservation. Italy is also working on an emergency energy saving plan, but there is uncertainty about the next steps as elections later this month could bring the far right to power. Meanwhile, there is a growing clamor for action at EU level to cap gas prices. EU energy ministers will hold emergency talks on Friday amid growing pressure to overhaul the bloc’s energy policy to decouple natural gas from electricity prices. Under EU energy rules, electricity prices are determined by the price of the most expensive fuel, which is usually natural gas. Countries that produce a lot of energy from other fuels, such as renewables or nuclear, have argued for months that the system needs to change to protect their consumers.
