Official data showed last July that the German economy stabilized without achieving any growth rates in the second quarter of the year, as the crisis in Ukraine, the pandemic and supply disruptions push Europe’s largest economy to the brink of deflation.
The German Federal Statistics Office said that gross domestic product remained stable at zero percent on a quarterly basis, according to the revised figures, contrary to expectations that expected a growth of 0.1 percent in the second quarter.
However, the performance of the German economy in the first quarter of the year was better than what was announced in the first reading, as the statistics office revised growth during that quarter up to 0.8 percent from 0.2 percent.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said during a press conference on Wednesday that the largest economy in Europe is currently experiencing a difficult energy crisis, which is increasingly turning into an “economic crisis,” as he put it.
He explained that the German government is counting on a plan to set a ceiling on energy prices to curb price hikes during the next year.
On October 7, during their meeting in Prague, European Union leaders were divided over how to deal with the crisis of high energy prices, while facing the repercussions of the Russian war on Ukraine.
Disagreements among European Union leaders over capping gas prices and bailout packages in each country resurfaced once, and Poland accused Germany of being “selfish” in its handling of the expected winter energy crisis caused by the Russian war in Ukraine.
Most of the EU countries demand the European Commission to propose a ceiling for gas prices, but the details are the focus of the dispute, as some capitals seek to set a comprehensive ceiling for all gas trade transactions and import contracts, while others prefer to set a ceiling for the electricity sector only.
Setting a ceiling on gas prices is one of a set of proposals and initiatives submitted by European countries to coexist with the decline in gas supplies from Russia, which was providing 40 percent of Europe’s needs, as well as the huge rise in prices.
Although gas prices have fallen from their peak this year, they are still more than two hundred percent higher than they were at the beginning of September last year.
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