Merz: Germany is interested in several energy suppliers

The leader of the CDU/CSU bloc and the likely future Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, said that Germany needs to have several energy suppliers at once.

"We need gas, including American gas... we have some gas reserves in Europe, and we can get gas from many other parts of the world. Germany will continue to be an importer of primary energy. But we should always have several suppliers and not depend on one," Merz said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper.

In this regard, Merz indicated that Germany wants to quickly build gas-fired power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

Lars Klingbeil, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, which is negotiating the formation of a ruling coalition with the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union bloc (CDU/CSU), earlier on the ARD TV channel rejected the possibility of returning to Russian gas supplies. According to him, after the start of the conflict on In Ukraine, Germany has become independent of Russian gas and "this path should be consistently continued."

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, noted that Germany's purchases of LNG at exorbitant prices instead of Russian pipeline gas drop the level of its "competitiveness, the economy as a whole to zero." The Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that the West made a serious mistake by refusing to buy from Russia's hydrocarbons, it will fall into a new, stronger dependence, due to higher prices. Moscow stressed that those who refused, still buy more expensive through intermediaries and will buy Russian oil and gas.