Status: 07/14/2022 09:46 a.m
The federal government is trying to find a quick solution to save the energy company Uniper. Today there is a meeting with the Finnish Minister for Europe – because the main owner of Uniper is the Finnish group Fortum.
Negotiations to rescue the ailing gas importer Uniper have been going on for days. Things could get moving today. The Finnish Minister for European Affairs and State Investment Management, Tytti Tuppurainen, is meeting with Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt and State Secretary Jörg Kukies in Berlin. The meeting is supposed to be about Uniper. This was confirmed by a government spokesman at the request of the ARD Capital Studios.
Uniper is 80 percent owned by the Finnish group Fortum
The Finnish government could play an important role in the rescue of Uniper. Around 80 percent of the Uniper shares belong to the company Fortum. And Fortum is majority-controlled by the Finnish state. However, the Finnish government recently emphasized that Fortum could no longer invest in Uniper.
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said in Berlin on Wednesday that talks about Uniper were ongoing. They would be guided intensively. A short-term solution must be found for the ailing company. It is about preventing a liquidity crisis. The time frame in which the talks will be concluded is not foreseeable.
Uniper’s application for state aid is being examined
Uniper has come under pressure after Russia recently cut gas supplies to Germany. In order to fulfill its supply contracts, Uniper has to buy gas on the market – at significantly higher prices. According to its own statements, the group is currently making a double-digit million loss every day. Against this background, the group has applied for state aid, which the federal government is negotiating with the company within the scope of the possibilities of the newly created protective shield.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already promised Uniper support after his application for state aid. “In any case, we made a political decision that we will help Uniper,” said Scholz at the end of last week. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck had also promised the company support, but said at the weekend with a view to the Finnish parent company Fortum that he wanted to make the Uniper owners responsible: “It belongs to someone, also someone who is solvent and who can support. “