Germany will need some time to implement Russian coal ban - Scholz
Germany will need to use the full four-month phase-out period to implement a ban on Russian coal under European Union sanctions, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday (April 7).
The EU's ambassadors agreed on a fifth sanctions package against Russia, including a ban on Russian coal deliveries and closure of EU ports to Russian ships.
Scholz said the sanctions were a "big, decisive further step", adding that the sanctions showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was destroying the future of his own country with the invasion of Ukraine.
The package includes a 120-day wind-down period to give EU member states time to find alternative suppliers.
"We will need to use this period," Scholz told a news conference following a meeting with the leaders of Germany's 16 federal states.
"If it's faster, that's good. But we will need some time, and the companies will need it as well, though they have been looking for new suppliers for a while already," he added.
A German economy ministry report prepared for parliament warned earlier this week that the country would likely have to switch off some of its power plants if it ended Russian coal imports straight away.
Scholz also announced that the German government will give 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to the federal state to cover the cost of caring for and integrating Ukrainian refugees in Germany.
"This is a clear message: We are doing it better, we are doing it differently and we have learned from the mistakes of the past," Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey added, referring to the 2015 migrant crisis which almost toppled the Merkel government and helped the rise of the far-right AfD party.
"The agreement is a good basis for our country to stand together in the long term," Scholz said after a meeting with the premiers of Germany's 16 states.
"(It will) concentrate on the concrete task of providing assistance and integration instead of fighting with each other institutionally," he added.
Germany has registered around 316,000 refugees from Ukraine, according to federal police. Berlin estimates that up to 60,000 of the refugees are currently residing in the German capital.
Berlin and the neighbouring state of Brandenburg have been calling for federal support to accommodate, care for and integrate Ukraine refugees.