Germany and Qatar agree on a long-term energy partnership

During his visit to Qatar, German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck agreed on cooperation in the energy sector, which in the future provides for the possibility of supplying liquefied natural gas to Germany, Welt TV channel reports.

According to Khabek, an agreement has been reached on a “long-term energy partnership,” TASS reports.

Earlier, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer admitted that his country cannot quickly get rid of dependence on Russian gas, although it will work in this direction.

Meanwhile, EconPol Europe and the Munich Institute for Economic Research released a joint study that indicated that the refusal of energy supplies from Russia in the short term could cost Germany about three percent of GDP.

Already today, the head of the Association of German Trade Unions, Rainer Hoffmann, in an interview with the Funke media group, called for the introduction of speed limits on German autobahns due to high energy prices in order to save fuel consumption.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

Thus, in particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.

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