The public swimming pools lowered the temperature of the water, closed the saunas and the monuments and public buildings stopped being exhibited to the nocturnal tourist, since they turned off the lighting at night
Gas reservoirs continue to fill, albeit excruciatingly slowly, and Nord Stream has not yet cut off gas to Germany. But in some cities, be it Berlin or Munich, rationing in the public sector is already beginning to be felt. The public swimming pools lowered the temperature of the water, closed the saunas and the monuments and public buildings stopped being exhibited to the nocturnal tourist, since they turned off the lighting at night.
These are the first signs that Germany is serious about the need to reduce gas consumption by 15%, according to the plan of the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen. They seem just an appetizer of the sacrifices that a winter will entail under the sign of Russian gas shortages and a rising energy bill, since the alternatives to Nord Stream supplies, which exist, will be more expensive. The citizens of Munich, the capital of prosperous Bavaria, began to swim in waters several degrees colder than usual – 22 degrees, in outdoor pools, and 26, indoors. This implies a certain shock in a country where heat waves last only a few days and where the countdown to autumn begins at the latest with the start of August. Public saunas directly closed. They are energetic predators. Something similar is happening in Hannover, in the center of the country, while in Berlin the possibility is already being raised that, after the short summer, some of the public indoor swimming pools, large consumers of energy, will begin to close, leaving the rest limited to its use for schools and athletes.
At the moment, the main “affected” by the first outbreaks of public rationing are tourists. Some 200 public buildings and monuments in the German capital are left in the dark, without night lighting on their facade; some, starting at ten at night and others around midnight. This includes lighting shows such as those that are usually offered on these dates between the emblematic Brandenburg Gate and the surroundings of the Reichstag, the historic seat of the German Parliament. Each German “Land” applies these measures at its own discretion. In the capital, the citizen has more or less assimilated any type of restriction, given Berlin’s reputation as a “poor” and over-indebted city. In Munich, each of these measures is considered an affront, since if the Bavarian capital boasts of something, compared to that of the country as a whole, it is prosperity and comfort.
As of October, more than half of the households in a country with 83 million inhabitants will pay the consequences of the Russian gas shortage on their bill. From then on, and predictably for the next 16 months, the so-called gas rate will be applied to its consumption. 52% of homes in the country use gas for heating, cooking or hot water. There is no clear estimate of what its cost will be, although between 1.5 and 5 cents per KwH are being considered, which will be used to prevent the collapse of companies in the sector affected by the reduction in supplies. The Minister of Economy and Climate Protection, the green Robert Habeck, spoke a few days ago of “several hundred euros” per year for a typical household – that is, with four members and with a consumption of 20,000 kWh per year. The chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, had placed that amount at around 200 or 300 euros per year. An explosive situation, in a country with a healthy labor market – the unemployment rate stands at 5.6% – but where employment has been precarious for more than a decade.
It is a “bitter solution”, admitted Habeck, the most highly valued politician in the country today, despite the bad news that he must transmit almost daily to the citizen in the midst of this crisis. Apparently his sincerity is recognized and also the fact that he is the one who must seek emergency solutions to a strong energy dependency on Russia inherited by the Scholz government from his predecessors.
The list of major culprits is headed by former Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who months before leaving power (in 2005) agreed with his friend and political ally Vladimir Putin to build the Nord Stream, to later sit on the boards of directors of companies controlled by the Kremlin. This spectacular example of revolving doors was followed by the 16 years in power of the conservative Angela Merkel, who maintained and amplified energy dependence.
The search for responsibilities among Scholz’s predecessors occupy these days the comments and opinion columns inside and outside Germany. Habeck, meanwhile, is in charge of weathering the situation and, supposedly, of drawing up plans B in case Nord Stream closes the gas tap. At the moment, the deposits are over 67.5% of their capacity. Habeck’s declared goal is to have them at 75% by the start of September and at 95% by the first of November. They have managed to continue to be filled, despite the interruption of supply for ten days and the subsequent reduction dictated from Moscow, based on resorting to coal reserves. Another “bitter solution” for Scholz’s green partner. The current tripartite between social democrats, greens and liberals opened the post-Merkel legislature last December with the purpose of accelerating the goodbye to this fossil energy. Suddenly he is forced, as a lesser evil, to convert coal into a kind of emergency shelter.
Habeck’s Greens defend, for the moment, the calendar for the closure of the last three atomic plants at the end of this 2022. The “Nein, Danke” to nuclear energy is the founding sign of identity of German environmentalism. But few rule out that it does not end up, at least, prolonging the life of these last plants. Even the most realistic or pragmatic sections of the Greens are beginning to be less categorical in their “Nein, Danke.” Everything can depend on the deposits being filled at the right rate.
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