Former Austrian Foreign Minister believes that Europe itself provoked the energy crisis

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl does not consider Russia to be guilty of the European energy crisis. In her opinion, it began last year through the fault of the European politicians themselves. In addition, she believes that Russia and the EU can still normalize relations. However, now “diplomacy as a craft has already been lost.”

“We had a crisis in the electric power industry even before the gas crisis began. This is the result of the liberalization of the last 15-18 years, we have been experiencing it since April 2021, that is, for more than a year. In general, this is a situation that we ourselves provoked, ”she said in an interview. TASS.

As Ms. Kneisl noted, the electricity market in Europe was steered in favor of renewable energy about 18 years ago, which led to strong distortions. “I don’t want to go into technical details, but the fact is that the electricity market, despite the role of renewable energy sources, is still highly dependent on the price of gas. Even when electricity is generated more from renewable sources,” she explained.

The ex-minister recalled that after April 2021, electricity prices increased by 30-40%, and now the growth reaches 400%. And the reason for this was that in Europe they invested very little in gas and oil.

She also touched upon the topic of Russian-European relations. To normalize them, according to her, it is necessary to build trust again. “So much porcelain has been broken, so much trust has been destroyed. I think it’s possible. Only for this we need people who will be sincerely interested in this and who will be respectful to each other, ”said the ex-minister.

“We don’t set aside enough time to talk to each other, to have a real exchange of views. And I can say that the more I travel to the east, the more I notice this temporary element, that here people find time for each other. It’s significant,” said Mrs Kneissl.

Karin Kneissl is considered one of the closest European politicians to the Russian leadership. She served as Austrian Foreign Minister from 2017 to 2019, which she left after the resignation of former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz due to a corruption scandal. Until May 2022, Ms. Kneisl served on the board of directors of the Russian state corporation Rosneft. She currently lives in Lebanon. In July newspaper The Washington Post published an article in which the diplomat was accused of indirect involvement in organizing espionage in Austria in favor of Russia.