Hartmann’s remarks came during a meeting with Egyptian press, along with Head of the European Delegation in Egypt Christian Berger, and Polish Ambassador to Egypt Michal Labenda.

The Russian-Ukrainian war – which has caused global prices of oil and gas to rise – has led Germany, like other European countries, to seek to diversify its energy sources in order to decrease dependency on Russian gas. The EU imports the vast majority of the gas it consumes, with Russia accounting for around 45 percent of imports in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). 

After achieving self-sufficiency in natural gas in 2018, Egypt has planned to use its position on Europe’s doorstep to become a major supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the continent, which is transitioning away from other fossil fuels. This is based on Egypt’s huge gas discoveries and production, which is expected to rise to 7.5 million tonnes by the end of the 2021/2022 fiscal year.

Egypt also has the infrastructure for transporting and handling natural gas with a network of 7,000km of pipelines, a distribution network of 31,000km, and 29 gas-treatment plants as well as two LNG facilities – Idku and Damietta plants.

Hartmann pointed out that Egypt also has a surplus in electricity capacity, and can export electricity to Europe through an undersea cable going to Greece. The project was agreed upon in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in October 2021 between Egypt and Greece.

Moreover, Hartmann said that the current crisis in Ukraine is an opportunity for Germany and other countries to speed up their transition towards green energy and increase production from renewable resources, mainly solar and wind energy.

Political, security and humanitarian repercussions

Politically, Hartmann said, the crisis has changed their security landscape.

"Germany's government has decided to invest 100 million Euros into the defence budget as a result of the changing security landscape in Europe as we have to improve our military security capabilities," he stated.

Hartmann also stated that about 10 million people have already been displaced in Ukraine, with nearly 3.6 million of them leaving the country, including two million that have crossed over into Poland.

The Polish ambassador stressed that Poland is treating refugees on its borders equally regardless of their nationalities, skin colour and religious backgrounds.

He added that all the European countries, including Poland, are accepting Ukrainian refugees and they are not living in government facilities, instead they are accepted in civilian houses.

Ukrainian refugees are given local registration numbers to allow them access to health and education services free of charge, as well as to be able to work legally in the country, Labenda pointed out.

Poland has received tens of thousands of refugees of other nationalities, in addition to two million Ukrainians, including Egyptians, who have been handled by their respective embassies in cooperation with Polish authorities.

Although the world's economy is affected negatively by the war in Ukraine, the Russian economy will continue to suffer the worst as the war continues, Labenda stated.

"We prefer stability in Russia and prefer not to harm its economy, but we want to end the war," he concluded.

Unexpected military confrontation

Berger stressed that the EU does not want to go to war with Russia, or have a direct military engagement between NATO and Russia.

Hartmann echoed same position, emphasising that the EU is doing everything to prevent escalation as no one wants want to see a military confrontation between Russia and NATO.

"What is happening in Ukraine has not been seen in Europe for a very long time, and Ukraine has the right of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN charter," Berger said.

However, Berger said that the EU will continue to support Ukraine, and that the European Commission has decided to activate a directive called the "Temporary Protection Directive," which was last used during the Balkan crises, to allow refugees to stay in any EU country for at least one year and have access to the European labor market, health and education services.

Last week, the International Court of Justice issues a binding ruling that says the Russian aggression in Ukraine has to stop as it violates international law, he noted, adding that Ukraine has been an independent nation since 1991, and claims of it developing biological weapons are not credible.

He also stated that Russia had pledged in 1994 to recognise the territorial integrity and sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons.

Food Security

We have seen the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on food scarcity and food security in the world, Berger said, adding that the EU together with the United States and other international institutions like the United Nations are discussing food security globally as the prices are rising and wheat costs in the international market have almost doubled.

"The scarcity of some commodities like wheat is major concern for many countries including Egypt which receives large quantities of wheat from Russia and Ukraine," he pointed out.

The impact on tourism is also a major concern, Berger added, since the world has already been suffering from a difficult period as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic for the last two years, and tourism worldwide has just started to recover with fewer restrictions on travel. "Then the war in Ukraine came to pose great threats to the tourism industry as well," he said.

Hartmann also stressed that all the justifications Russia has offered for its war in Ukraine are unacceptable.

He added that the crisis calls into question the world order, as it affects every part of the world including Egypt. "We have never imagined that a military conflict like the one in Ukraine could erupt after the Second World War and after the end of the Cold War," he said.

Moreover, Hartmann said that the EU has praised Egypt's decision to support the UN Assembly's resolution to demand Russia stop its offensive in Ukraine.

"The EU, together with many other countries, is preparing a second resolution that follows up on the humanitarian aspect of the crisis in Ukraine," Hartmann pointed out.