14. June 2022 | Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, Global Public Policy

How Will a Potential Gas Import Disturbance Affect Germany?

In several recent interviews with media news outlets, Prof. Andreas Goldthau commented on Germany’s energy import future and the effects of interruptions in Russia’s natural gas export

On May 11^th, Prof. Andreas Goldthau expressed his views on the interruption of gas flows through the Ukrainian Sojus-Pipeline in the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. His take: Germany’s gas imports are currently stable and despite the current interruption in the Ukrainian Sojus-Pipeline, other Ukrainian pipelines such as the Brotherhood System, which unlike the Sojus-Pipeline, do not lead directly through Russian separatist regions are still capable of compensating for the recent capacity loss.
On May 2^nd, Prof. Andreas Goldthau argued that the war in Ukraine will lead to a change in Germany’s economic model in the German daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. According to Professor Goldthau, Germany currently relies on a system that is centered on the production and export of manufactured goods, which are being produced by the import of cheap energy. This energy is to a large degree in form of natural gas which often is imported directly from Russia. As this system is no longer justifiable for the foreseeable future, Goldthau believes that Germany’s energy system and economy require a systematic change that follows the transition toward renewable energy sources.