Report: Embargo on Russian gas may split EU – E.ON CEO

BERLIN, Apr 19 (PRIME) -- An immediate embargo on Russian gas exports will be painful for Germany and for the E.U. and can split the union, Leonhard Birnbaum, CEO of German energy giant E.ON, said in an interview to German daily Handelsblatt published on Tuesday.

“I think it will be wrong … This move will not only hurt Germany, it would cause a large-scale problem in Europe. For instance, Slovakia is completely dependent on Russian gas, and countries like Czech and Austria receive the bulk of their gas from Russia. Its share is significant in many other E.U. countries,” Birnbaum said as quoted by Handelsblatt.

The gas issues should be discussed at the European, not national level. If the authorities think that they could secure gas supplies to Germany without taking care of the other countries, it will split up the E.U., he said.

Germany’s energy security is not completely ensured, and it would take Berlin three years to cut dependency on Russian energy, he said.

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