The Finnish parent company of the energy supplier Uniper wants to hand over its ailing German gas business to the federal government. “From our point of view, it must now be a matter of merging the endangered and systemically important areas of Uniper and securing them permanently,” Markus Rauramo, head of the Finnish state-controlled energy group Fortum, told Reuters on Saturday. “We have to assume that the gas supply problems will continue in the medium term and that prices will remain high or continue to rise,” he added. “Therefore, the system-critical German parts of the company should come under the control of the state that has the necessary creditworthiness.”
His proposal is also supported by “the fact that Uniper’s international business (…) does not have to be taken over, accounted for and financed by the state”. All in all, Fortum wants a “targeted entrepreneurial solution in which the state has to provide as little support as possible”. Uniper, Germany’s largest gas trader, has slipped into difficulties because of supply cuts by the Russian Gazprom group. The Fortum Group is the majority owner of Uniper and in turn is majority owned by the Finnish state. He backed the plans. “The rescue of Uniper is a matter of European importance,” said Europe Minister Tytti Tuppurainen. “We support Fortum’s proposal to save Uniper.” The minister emphasized that it was “about the future of two companies that are irreplaceable for the security of supply in their home markets”. That is why a solution that is sustainable in the long term is needed: “We are urgently calling for the endangered, system-critical divisions of Uniper in Germany to be reorganized and secured by the state.”
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, for his part, made the Finnish majority owner responsible for the rescue of Uniper. You can’t say that just because Uniper belongs to someone else, you stay out of it completely, the Green politician told Deutschlandfunk before the statements by the Fortum boss. But it also applies: “It belongs to someone, someone who is solvent and can provide support. And that’s why it’s right to think about models where the owners also have a duty.”
According to the plans of the Finns, who hold around 80 percent of Uniper, the coal, gas and gas import business in Germany could fall to the state. In German government circles it had already been said that Fortum wanted to transfer the loss-making German business and continue to run the rest of the group. You have to look at this very carefully. Rauramo, however, emphasized that Fortum had already provided Uniper with a large amount of financial support. “Since the beginning of the crisis, Fortum has made eight billion euros available to Uniper in the form of loans and guarantees, which have also been utilized as far as possible,” he explained. “We take our responsibility as owners very seriously and are therefore looking for a solution that will not only stabilize Uniper financially in the short term.”