Free Republic

Germany will shut down its three remaining nuclear plants on Saturday, betting that it can fulfil its green ambitions without atomic power despite the energy crisis caused by the Ukraine war. The cloud of white steam that has risen since 1989 over the river in Neckarwestheim, near Stuttgart, will soon be a distant memory, as will the Isar 2 complex in Bavaria and the Emsland plant in the north. At a time when many Western countries are ramping up nuclear power in their transition to greener energy sources, Europe’s biggest economy is resolutely sticking to its plans — though not...

Europe to send modern armoured vehicles as Russia prepares new mobilisation Kyiv and allies have been calling on Germany to send Leopard 2 battle tanks Germany has been reluctant, but foreign minister has signalled shift if position Germany would not block Poland sending its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, its foreign minister said, in a blow for Putin and his invading forces. Ukrainian officials have been calling on Western allies to supply them the modern German-made armour for months, but Germany has held back from sending them or allowing other Nato countries to do so. In apparent shift, Annalena...

A senior Israeli official representing Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Monday declared that Iran talks are “dead”.The official called on Europe and the US on Monday to begin talking about demands for a “longer, stronger” nuclear agreement with Iran, saying current talks aimed at reviving a 2015 pact were dead after Jerusalem provided proof that Tehran had not been forthright during negotiations.Lapid and his top aides were in Berlin Monday, where the Israeli Prime Minister says he passed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “sensitive and relevant intelligence information” on Iran’s nuclear program.The day prior, Germany, France, and the UK issued a...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will not be shipping natural gas to Europe to address the continent’s energy crisis. “Canada is a major oil and gas producer in the world,” said Trudeau at a Monday press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “But because of our commitment to fight climate change, we are working very, very hard to decarbonize and develop other sources of energy that we can rely on and we can share with the world.” Trudeau said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had two impacts on the world’s energy supply. The first impact was it made it imperative...

Germany's leading energy expert says she's living in a nightmare. What's worse, she saw it coming. Germany had vowed to ditch coal but is now restarting mothballed, coal-fired power stations For 15 years Claudia Kemfert says she tried to warn politicians and the public that the country was too reliant on Russian energy. Until recently Germany bought more than half of its gas from Russia. She advised Berlin to find other sources and focus more on renewables. And she warned against the construction of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline through which Germany receives much of its gas. "That's what I...

On Monday, the country recorded that imports outstripped exports for more than 30 years. Its entire economy has been built around creating an industrial machine that dominates global markets. That machine is now grinding to a halt. Exports unexpectedly fell, while imports surged as the cost of energy spiked. Until recently it was racking up surpluses of 8 or 9 per cent of GDP, or €20 billion a month, the biggest in the world. The German economy is based on selling high-end industrial goods to the rest of the world. Unlike many other countries, it doesn’t have huge service industries...

The head of the German Federation Trade Unions (DGB) warned Sunday that major industries in the country were at risk of collapsing if Russian natural gas were to be cut off. "Because of the gas bottlenecks, entire industries are in danger of permanently collapsing: aluminum, glass, the chemical industry," Yasmin Fahimi told newspaper Bild am Sonntag in an interview. "Such a collapse would have massive consequences for the entire economy and jobs in Germany." Fahimi’s dire warning came a day ahead of an expected round of crisis talks between Fahimi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in...

In January-April 2022, Germany increased imports from Russia by 60% and transferred almost EUR 6 billion to Moscow, despite the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andrii Melnyk announced this on his Twitter account on Friday, June 10. 'It's crazy. Despite the Russian aggressive war, in January-April 2022, Germany increased imports from Russia by 60% (!) And transferred almost EUR 6 billion to Moscow. Trade between Ukraine and Germany fell by 11%," Melnyk said. As proof, the Ambassador of Ukraine published an infographics of trade. As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on June 7, the adviser...

In a speech to mark the 77th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, German Chancellor Scholz said that by likening the conflict in Ukraine to the fight against Nazi Germany, Russian President Putin was falsifying of history.