{"id":20545,"date":"2026-07-20T11:58:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20545"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:58:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:13:37","slug":"merz-links-germanys-energy-crisis-to-loss-of-russian-gas-supplies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20545","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Merz Links Germany\u2019s Energy Crisis to Loss of Russian Gas Supplies<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Dragon Media News Desk<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has linked his country\u2019s prolonged energy crisis to the absence of gas supplies from Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during ZDF\u2019s \u201cSummer Interview,\u201d Merz indicated that the loss of affordable and stable energy supplies had placed significant pressure on Germany\u2019s economy and energy prices. The interview was broadcast on July 19 as part of ZDF\u2019s political programme Berlin Direkt.<\/p>\n<p>Merz said Germany was also facing a difficult situation in its relations with the United States. Under President Donald Trump, he said, Washington was no longer supporting NATO and its European partners to the same extent as in the past.<\/p>\n<p>His remarks suggested that Europe was increasingly being required to assume greater responsibility for its own security and defence. Merz has previously argued that Europe must strengthen its strategic capabilities in response to the changing US role.<\/p>\n<p>His comments on Russian gas have been interpreted as an acknowledgement of the impact that changes in energy supplies have had on Germany\u2019s industrial competitiveness, production costs and economic slowdown.<\/p>\n<p>However, Merz did not propose resuming direct gas imports from Russia. His remarks appeared primarily focused on identifying one of the major factors behind Germany\u2019s energy difficulties.<\/p>\n<p>The European Commission has also warned that renewed increases in fossil-fuel prices, driven by the latest crisis in the Middle East, are placing additional energy pressure on European economies.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20545\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"time\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #ffffff !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 100% !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dragon Media News Desk German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has linked his country\u2019s prolonged energy crisis to the absence of gas supplies from Russia. Speaking during ZDF\u2019s \u201cSummer Interview,\u201d Merz indicated that the loss of affordable and stable energy supplies had placed significant pressure on Germany\u2019s economy and energy prices. The interview was broadcast on July &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[164,160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merz Links Germany\u2019s Energy Crisis to Loss of Russian Gas Supplies - Dragon Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20545\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merz Links Germany\u2019s Energy Crisis to Loss of Russian Gas Supplies - Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dragon Media News Desk German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has linked his country\u2019s prolonged energy crisis to the absence of gas supplies from Russia. Speaking during ZDF\u2019s \u201cSummer Interview,\u201d Merz indicated that the loss of affordable and stable energy supplies had placed significant pressure on Germany\u2019s economy and energy prices. The interview was broadcast on July &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20545\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61560346806474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T06:13:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-20-at-05.09.12.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dragon Media\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbbc40ba051fb45aeb6f5846f090f5eb\"},\"headline\":\"Merz Links Germany\u2019s Energy Crisis to Loss of Russian Gas Supplies\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T06:13:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545\"},\"wordCount\":244,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-20-at-05.09.12.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Asia\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545\",\"name\":\"Merz Links Germany\u2019s Energy Crisis to Loss of Russian Gas Supplies - Dragon Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-20-at-05.09.12.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T06:13:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-20-at-05.09.12.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-20-at-05.09.12.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20545#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Merz Links Germany\u2019s Energy Crisis to Loss of Russian Gas Supplies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u0921\u094d\u0930\u093e\u0917\u0928 \u092e\u093f\u0921\u093f\u092f\u093e\",\"description\":\"committed to true &amp; 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