“It’s a little embarrassing when, on the one hand, German politicians present themselves in Qatar with rainbow armbands, and on the other hand, we finance the absolutist monarchy there with long-term contracts for fossil fuels,” writes a journalist for a Berlin newspaper. . This is his comment on Germany’s decision to buy gas from Qatar.
Yesterday, Germany signed a contract for 15 years of LNG supplies from Qatar. Our western neighbors should receive up to 2 million tons of LNG per year.
Germany is one of the most affected European countries after the cessation of gas supplies from Moscow. So far, our neighbors receive natural gas mainly from Russia through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, but after recent explosions, it cannot transport raw materials. The contract with Qatar is Germany’s first long-term LNG supply contract.
Gas and symbols - a difficult choice
Ensuring a constant supply of gas at a good price is good news from an economic point of view, it raises moral doubts - at least among journalists.
The editor of the Berliner Zeitung admits that Germany had to find ways to break free of its dependence on Russian gas, but, being bound by a long-term contract with another authoritarian regime, raises the question of what kind of protest gestures like the one made by the national team players . Before the first match in Qatar, they covered their mouths. They wanted to take to the field wearing rainbow armbands in solidarity with gay people in Qatar, but FIFA threatened to disqualify them for doing so.
“The Emirate of Qatar is one of the last eleven countries in the world where homosexuality can still be punishable by death. And he sits on gas, which brings him billions in profits. It’s a little embarrassing when, on the one hand, German politicians present themselves in Qatar with rainbow armbands, and on the other hand, we finance the local absolutist monarchy with long-term contracts for fossil fuels. So the rest of the world must think that Germany is only interested in symbolic politics? - is surprised.
It is impossible to buy gas only from “clean” sources
A Stuttgarter Zeitung journalist has a little more understanding of the agreement, writing that “unlike Russia, this emirate is not a state that, through an aggressive war, would undermine the European peace order,” and thereby pose a direct threat to Germany and its allies.
He also said that all the words of indignation do not matter, because as long as European countries are “addicted to fossil fuels, like addicts to heroin,” they cannot be too picky in their orders.
“It would be great if Germany could immediately meet its gas needs solely from primitive democracies such as Norway, the Netherlands or Canada, preferably without resorting to environmentally harmful fracking. Unfortunately, this is a false dream. Those who are annoyed by this should remember the next time they get into the car that the fuel in its tank could have been made from Libyan or Kazakh oil.”
Contract for 15 years
Qatar’s energy minister stressed that with the contract, his country wants to “contribute to efforts to support energy security in Germany and Europe.”
The amount of the contract is not specified, but, as the Minister of Energy of Qatar emphasized, negotiations are underway with German companies on further LNG supplies. “We have good relations with German companies and with the German government,” the Qatari minister stressed.
The contract with Qatar was signed for 15 years. According to Puls Biznesu, gas supplies to Qatar account for only 6 percent of the country’s total gas supplies. of the 46 billion cubic meters of Russian gas imported by Germany last year.
Source: Wprost
