Today in Prague, Síkela will hold talks with the German Minister for the Economy, Habeck
Update: 11/07/2022 00:07
Issued by: 11/07/2022, 00:07
Prague – Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela (for STAN) will hold talks with German Minister for Economy and Climate Protection Robert Habecký in Prague today. The main topic of the meeting will be solidarity and unity between the states of the European Union in solving the current energy crisis as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The ministers will present the results of the meeting at a press conference at the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Na Františku one hour after noon.
Strengthening energy security is one of the main tasks that the Czech government has set itself as part of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. She took over on July 1 for the following six months. According to Síkela, the Czech Republic plans to achieve energy security by, among other things, connecting and expanding existing oil and gas pipelines. Síkela has already stated that in the case of oil pipelines, he considers the offer to expand the capacity of the TAL (Transalpine Oil Pipeline) pipeline. He is talking about increasing its capacity. The pipeline runs from Trieste, Italy to Germany and Austria, the Czech Republic is connected to it via the IKL product pipeline.
In addition to oil, EU countries have to deal with the supply of natural gas in particular. In July, the European Commission should present a plan on how to proceed together in the event of the adoption of supply restrictions. Habeck said at the end of June that he fears even their complete interruption via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which transports gas from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The Czech Republic also benefits from these supplies.
In June, the Russian gas company Gazprom reduced the flow of gas in Nord Stream 1 to roughly 40 percent of the original capacity. Annual maintenance on the gas pipeline begins today and there are fears that Russia is paying for it to permanently shut off the EU from supplies in retaliation for EU sanctions.
Czech government officials also previously stated that the Czech Republic would like to acquire a stake in liquefied gas (LNG) terminals in Germany or Poland. Recently, the state managed to purchase part of the capacity of the LNG terminal in the Netherlands through ČEZ.
As a result of the energy crisis associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, both Habeck and Síkela repeatedly call on the public and companies to save energy.