As Germany moves away from Russian energy imports, new dependencies on fossil energies must be avoided. The potential alternative from energy-saving, renewables and European cooperation offers excellent opportunities in the short, medium and long terms. But this will require new, green energy partnerships built on a new foundation of values.

On 31 March 2022, the 19 EU Member States that submitted their CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) by the 1 January 2022 deadline received their awaited Observation Letters. In this article we discuss the implications of the European Commission backtracking on a transparent process and explore the content of Observation Letters that have been partially released.

Some have labelled Russia’s war against Ukraine “the world’s first crypto war.” That might be overstating matters, but cryptocurrencies are certainly having an impact on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The primary goal must be to stop the war of aggression on Ukraine launched by Russia on 24 February 2022. The sanctions of EU and NATO countries are currently in contrast to the dependence on Russian raw material and energy supplies. Hundreds of millions of euros flow from Germany to Russia every day, counteracting the effect of the sanctions. This should now be an incentive to reassess the costs of more radical fossil fuel exit scenarios in the shortest possible time under crisis conditions.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine tragically continues with brutal shelling of civilian targets, escalating into a humanitarian catastrophe. At the forefront of all this is the masculinity of war which caused these horrors in the first place, and which allows for ignoring the voices of Ukrainian women at all levels.

The introduction of an oil embargo could significantly increase economic pressure on Russia. While the effect of an embargo on Russian military capabilities over the coming months would be minimal, it is unclear at present how long the war will last and whether it will spread beyond Ukraine. In the worst case, the West is currently financing a future war against itself.