Smaller countries see Germany’s domestic largess to tackle spiraling energy costs as undermining the effort to lower fuel prices for the wider European Union.
Long cut off from the continent’s grid, Portugal and Spain built a system based on imports and alternatives like solar that is the envy of fellow European Union nations.
As leaders of the Group of 7 gather in Germany, the scramble to replace Russian fossil fuels is raising concerns that hard-won climate targets will be missed.
Dangerously dependent on Russian gas, Germany is still refusing to cut off President Putin, whose war it is effectively subsidizing to the tune of some $220 million a day.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has been the most prominent opponent of a boycott of Russian energy. It relies on Russia for about 55 percent of its natural gas, 35 percent of its oil and half its coal.
