People are worried here in Germany, that their homes are cold this winter, but that isn't the real problem. Cold flats are a matter of perspective: Eg. lots of older flats in Spain and Portugal don't have a heating system and when the winter gets cold, inside the flats it's super cold - but that is NORMAL for them. Even though our German winters are colder than the Spanish ones our houses have much better isolation. Even without heating, our homes will be fine. As I said, it's a matter of perspective.
What I'm worried about is the economy - not only the small coffee shops but the big producers of goods, that are shipped worldwide. If they cannot make business, our and the European economy will suffer a lot. 2 local examples from my hometown in Saxony-Anhalt:
a) A big producer of fertilizer that sells their products worldwide needs lots of gas. They stopped their production already. The problem: If this company can't produce the fertilizer, we (Germany) and lots of other countries need to buy fertilizer from other countries (mostly outside Europe) and even Russia! This will increase the prices of food and we create one more dependency.
b) A friend of mine is running a part of his father's company in the mechanical engineering industry (they produce all sorts of industrial screws). Because they also need lots of gas, they didn't receive a new gas contract. It was just a coincidence, that their current contract ended this summer and now they don't get a new contract. This company sells goods to other companies in Germany that they need for their mechanical engineering businesses. But if they don't receive the goods from them they'll start buying them cheaper from ... China, exactly.
The problem isn't, that we are dependent on other countries - for a country that lacks natural resources, it's normal to import that stuff. The problem is, that we were too naive and we didn't set up proper "counter-dependencies" worldwide. We had too much trust in our partners, including Russia. It feels horrible when you trust people and then you are cheated...
What I'm worried about is the economy - not only the small coffee shops but the big producers of goods, that are shipped worldwide. If they cannot make business, our and the European economy will suffer a lot. 2 local examples from my hometown in Saxony-Anhalt:
a) A big producer of fertilizer that sells their products worldwide needs lots of gas. They stopped their production already. The problem: If this company can't produce the fertilizer, we (Germany) and lots of other countries need to buy fertilizer from other countries (mostly outside Europe) and even Russia! This will increase the prices of food and we create one more dependency.
b) A friend of mine is running a part of his father's company in the mechanical engineering industry (they produce all sorts of industrial screws). Because they also need lots of gas, they didn't receive a new gas contract. It was just a coincidence, that their current contract ended this summer and now they don't get a new contract. This company sells goods to other companies in Germany that they need for their mechanical engineering businesses. But if they don't receive the goods from them they'll start buying them cheaper from ... China, exactly.
The problem isn't, that we are dependent on other countries - for a country that lacks natural resources, it's normal to import that stuff. The problem is, that we were too naive and we didn't set up proper "counter-dependencies" worldwide. We had too much trust in our partners, including Russia. It feels horrible when you trust people and then you are cheated...
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