Status: 12.05.2022 9:09 p.m
The reformed Energy Security Act passed the Bundestag with a majority. Should the security of supply be threatened, the state could expropriate energy companies if necessary. The Federal Council still has to agree.
In future, the state in Germany should be able to access energy companies more easily if there is a risk of significant supply bottlenecks. With the votes of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP, the Bundestag approved a new version of the energy security law against the background of conflicts with deliveries from Russia.
In parliament, the left also voted for the bill, the AfD rejected it, and the Union abstained. The Federal Council still has to approve the project, which could happen next week, according to Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck.
First use case is in the offing
In the future, special measures should be possible even before there is an immediate threat to the energy supply. Corporations could then be put under trusteeship. This should take effect if the companies can no longer fulfill their tasks and the security of supply is at risk.
As a last resort, expropriation of companies is also possible if there is no other way to ensure the security of the energy supply. In the parliamentary process, however, the FDP prevailed against the government draft that after a company has been nationalized, it must later be privatized again.
The renewed law could be applied for the first time if no solution is found to the ownership issue at the PCK oil refinery in Schwedt an der Oder in Brandenburg. It is majority owned by the Rosneft group, which supplies it with Russian pipeline oil. Germany wants to replace this and has already developed plans for this. However, the prerequisite would be that Rosneft sells its shares or is legally forced to do so.
Obligation to report in the event of decommissioning
The Energy Security Act has changed only slightly since 1975. The law authorizes the government and its authorities to take countermeasures in the event of a threat to the supply. These include regulations on the production, transport and distribution of energy.
The amendment also changes provisions in the Energy Industry Act. Among other things, a planned decommissioning of gas storage facilities will have to be reported to the Federal Network Agency in the future.
Russia sanctions Gazprom Germania
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck had already acted on a different legal basis at Gazprom Germania, the German business of the Russian gas company. The subsidiary was placed under the trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency, which will now exercise all voting rights from shares in Gazprom Germania until September 30.
Gazprom had previously wanted to sell the subsidiary to another owner so that the government could intervene. Russia has now responded with sanctions and no longer wants to supply the trading and storage subsidiaries with gas.