Germany will likely get through the winter without a crisis even if Russian gas supplies stop, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday, adding that the country could draw on its gas stores and get more deliveries from Norway or the Netherlands.
The government had taken precautionary measures against such a crisis early on such as racing to full gas storage facilities and to build liquid natural gas terminals, Scholz said at town hall event in Essen.
"Even if it gets tight, we will probably get through the winter," Scholz said, reiterating his support for the construction of a gas pipeline from Spain through France to the rest of Europe.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Mark Porter)
