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E.U. Chief Proposes New Measures to Deal with Energy Costs; British Prime Minister Liz Truss Opposes Windfall Tax on Energy Firms; Locals Breach Lake to Save Villages in Pakistan; Foreign Fighters Join Ukraine's Counteroffensive; Parts of Bengaluru under Water; U.K. Families Seek School Help in Cost of Living Crisis; Italy to Lower Heat This Winter to Reduce Gas Consumption. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired September 07, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LIZ TRUSS, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: What I've determined to do as prime minister is to make sure we have an economy with high wages and high
skilled jobs.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Big promises from the United Kingdom's new prime minister but a cost of living crisis is
a major concern.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's become so stressful, I can't really cope with it. I've just been sort of burying my head in the sand and trying to day by
day by day.
KINKADE (voice-over): That is a European wide problem, as energy prices soar. We will be asking what Italy is planning as a solution and --
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MARK AYRES, BRITISH VOLUNTEER FIGHTER: I mean, it's hard, slow fought, meter by meter, position by position, because we haven't got the resources
to do a massive blitzkrieg.
KINKADE (voice-over): The (INAUDIBLE) energy crisis is stuck in the mud and doesn't look to be ending anytime soon. We will have the latest from
the front lines.
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KINKADE: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade, welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
We begin with a confirmation from Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss telling Parliament she will unveil her energy crisis plan Thursday.
Households and businesses across the country are desperate for some help with soaring fuel bills. Ms. Truss says she gets it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUSS: We can't just deal with today's problem. We can't just put a sticking plaster on it. What we need to do is increase our energy supplies
long term. That is why we will open up more supply in the North Sea, which the honorable gentleman has opposed.
That is why we will build more nuclear power stations, which the Labour Party didn't do when they were in office. And that is why we will get on
with delivering the supply as well as helping people through the winter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: The European Union is also laying out its own five brand-new proposals to help Europeans deal with rising energy costs. They're expected
to be presented to member states this Friday.
Among them, reducing electricity use during peak hours. E.U. president Ursula van der Leyen blames Russia's actions and manipulating markets for
the surge in energy prices. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is firing back.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): After the pandemic, different challenges arrived that have also been global in nature
and pose a danger to the whole world.
I'm talking about the West sanction fever, its brazen and aggressive attempts to force the others how to behave, deprive them of their
sovereignty and force them into submission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: So it's all about the energy crisis, as Liz Truss faced her first Prime Minister's Questions just a short time ago. CNN's Anna Stewart is in
our London newsroom and Nada Bashir is live from outside Downing Street.
Good to have you both with us.
I want to start with you first, Nada. This is the first full day for Britain's new prime minister, batting away calls for a general election and
speaking about her future plans, though not with a great amount of detail. Take us through how she handled the first PMQs.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's actually right, Lynda. She did outline a few more details around how she plans to tackle the challenges
that the country faces. She performed somewhat better than many people had anticipated.
But of course, we didn't get the full picture of how she plans to really address those challenges. We're still waiting for those details that she
plans to outline tomorrow. But of course, this was her first time at the dispatch box as prime minister.
We have begun to see a clear ideological divide appearing between the new prime minister and her Labour Party opponent, Keir Starmer, on a matter of
taxation. Liz Truss a proponent of lower taxes, economic growth.
Keir Starmer on the other hand repeatedly calling for taxes on those large corporations to be increased; in particular, on those energy firms. There
have been a lot of questions around a potential one-off windfall tax on those energy firms to ease the pressure of the energy crisis.
But Liz Truss was very clear in her opposition to that. Take a listen.
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TRUSS: I am against a windfall tax.
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TRUSS: I believe it is the wrong thing to be putting companies off investing in the United Kingdom, just when we need to be growing the
economy.
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BASHIR: Now Liz Truss has said her government will lay out their plans to tackle the energy crisis tomorrow in Parliament, focusing on making those
energy bills more affordable for the average household.
Remember, they are looking in the thousands. It's becoming the impossible for the (INAUDIBLE) to pay for their energy bills and it is really putting
a lot of pressure on people up and down the country.
But she'll also be looking at the long term solutions for securing Britain's energy supply. Of course, this all ties in to the cost of living
crisis, which will continue to be a key focus for lawmakers and have some comments over the coming weeks.
Many families are really struggling with the cost of living crisis. Liz Truss says she will deliver a bold plan, in her words, to really cut taxes,
pursue economic reforms and ease these pressures we are seeing. Of course, as, yet there are no clear details just yet on how she plans to do that.
KINKADE: As you say, it's not just the rising energy prices. Inflation across the board is a problem. It is pushing up and it is expected to rise.
BASHIR: Absolutely. We really are seeing a dire economic situation in the United Kingdom at this point. Inflation is just over 10 percent just last
week. The investment bank Goldman Sachs projecting inflation to top 22 percent next year. These are staggering figures we are seeing.
The cost of living crisis is really spiraling out of control. Liz Truss has a lot on her plate now, a huge responsibility to deliver on the commitments
that she made over the course of the campaign trail, to find a solution to this crisis that we haven't seen that has long not been solved by Boris
Johnson.
At this station appear framework (ph) but we did hear from her newly appointed chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng yesterday and this morning. And the
government is finalizing its plans for a firm response to the cost of living crisis.
He met this morning at Downing Street with market and city leaders to discuss the government's plan. Again, no from firm details coming from
that. But he did say the cost of living crisis is at the center of the government's focus.
For many families up and down the country, this is the priority. This is something that is at full front on their minds. Of course, Liz Truss has to
focus on securing that mandate as well from the British public.
She was appointed by Conservative Party members. That's less than 1 percent of the actual British electorate. And that is something that the opposition
Labour Party as you laid out earlier has picked up on this.
She will have to focus on showing she can commit to what she laid out in her campaign trail. She said deliver, deliver, deliver and many people will
be holding her to that.
KINKADE: Exactly. No honeymoon period for Liz Truss. Nada Bashir, thank you for. That
Anna, it's not just the U.K., all of Europe is dealing with this energy crisis. We have, obviously, seen Russia already put on hold that natural
gas flowing from Nord Stream 1. But now Putin is threatening to cut energy supplies across Europe.
How is the E.U. responding?
Yes. Europe is facing all the same problems. It's possible they look for slightly different solutions to this. But frankly, Europe as a continent
was already in dire straits, in a crisis before Russia decided to completely stop gas supplies through that main pipeline Nord Stream 1.
Of course, there's no sign yet of when or if it will ever get turned back on. Today the European Commission president, Ursula van der Leyen, was
laying out some proposals ahead of a big meeting on Friday, an emergency energy meeting in Brussels.
And what she said was really interesting. In many way, she wasn't just speaking to Europe, I think she was also directing this at Russia, saying
they will never allow Russia to wield energy as a weapon. Again, saying Europe had already weakened Russia's grip on their energy supply. Take a
listen.
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VON DER LEYEN: At the beginning of the war, if you looked at the imported gas, 40 percent of it was Russian gas since a long time. Today, we are down
to 9 percent only. So these are the five measures we will discuss with the member states at the informal council -- energy minister council on Friday.
These are tough times and they are not over soon. But I am deeply convinced that, if we show the solidarity, the unity and we have the determination
for that, we have the economic strength, we have the political will, that we shall overcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Russian gas accounted for 40 percent of gas imports; now it is just 9 percent. Of course, that's not all from the E.U.'s choosing, it's,
of course, because Russia has really strangled gas supplies to the continent.
Looking at the five proposals they have, we could bring those up. They are pretty interesting. The first is simply a reduction in energy consumption,
particularly targeting use of electricity at peak times across the content.
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STEWART: Also putting in place a revenue cap for non gas generators, which currently profit from the high price of gas. It's all linked. A windfall
tax for fossil fuel generators and the money from the second or third point really all been called into energy cost relief for member states across the
E.U.
Liquidity helped the energy suppliers who, of course, are paying incredibly high prices for wholesale gas right now and, most interesting of all, I
think, Lynda, a price cap on Russian gas.
It is a lot for member states to consider coming on Friday. The cap on Russian gas is interesting because, according to President Putin, as you
mentioned earlier, any cap on any fossil fuel coming out of Russia will be met with a simple no. And there will be no supplies of gas.
In a way, although the E.U. was receiving very little gas right now from Russia, if it was to go down the line of a price cap on gas, I think that
would literally be the E.U. exception that they won't be receiving any more gas from the continent.
But all those proposals to be put forward to their member states on Friday.
KINKADE: Certainly, we will be watching that closely Friday. Good to have you with us, Anna Stewart from London, thanks very much.
In about 20 minutes, I will be talking to the Italian minister for ecological transition as Rome scrambles to find ways to generate energy
before winter arrives.
With the United Nations again sounding the alarm over climate change, the secretary general telling reporters that catastrophic flooding and
scorching heat waves are just the beginning if we don't act now.
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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: There is a lot of attention on a lot of Ukraine. But people tend to forget there is
another war, the war we are waging on nature.
And nature is striking back. And climate change is supercharging the destruction of our planets. Pakistan, Chad, the Horn of Africa, where the
drought is causing famine, all of these things represent an enormous threat to all of us. Today, it is Pakistan; tomorrow, it can be anywhere else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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KINKADE (voice-over): Well, this is what he's talking about. These pictures are from Pakistan's Lake Manchar. Flooding has pushed up lake
levels dramatically, forcing authorities to divert the water away from nearby islands and villages.
It is now, as Anna Coren explains, it's too late for some areas. A note: there are disturbing images in this report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A metal box is pulled through the floodwaters.
"What's in the box?" asks a bystander.
"A dead body," replies a man.
They open the lid and show the body of a man crammed in. The family doesn't have money for a funeral, he explains. There is no place to bury the dead.
That is how bad the situation is.
They continue to haul the makeshift coffin through the brown, murky water, searching for higher ground to bury the corpse.
In another district, a group of villagers drag a makeshift raft with another man's body through the floodwaters.
"We came across an official with a tractor," says a man, looking distressed. "We requested help to transport the body but he denied. There
is no ambulance, no support by anyone."
As Pakistan's catastrophic floods continue to inundate one-third of the country, the province of Sindh in the country's southeast is now bearing
much of the brunt of this climate-change induced disaster.
With the water unable to drain away, there is nowhere to give the dead a dignified burial. Instead, these villagers hold a funeral procession for
their relative in the very waters that claimed his life.
Pakistan's unprecedented monsoonal rains, that have been falling since June, have affected at least 33 million people across the country. That's
15 percent of the population.
Millions have been displaced, having lost their homes and crops in the floodwaters. And the government and aid agencies are struggling to provide
enough food, medical care and shelter to those who've lost everything.
The ferocity of the flash floods has been the biggest killer. More than 1,300 people have died, one-third of them children, including a 3-day-old
baby girl, whose family tried to escape their home as the water almost reached the ceiling.
PETER OPHOFF, IFRC: The wife had the baby in her hands. And jus at the end, she couldn't hold it, because the water was too strong. And the baby
swept away. And they found the baby but, unfortunately, the baby died.
COREN (voice-over): The people living near Lake Manchar, Pakistan's largest freshwater lake, a looming disaster supposedly averted, has come at
a very high price. Officials were forced to breach it due to dangerously high water levels.
But tens of thousands of villagers downstream have now been left homeless and further flooding is still expected.
"It destroyed our crops and houses.
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COREN (voice-over): "No one informed us it was happening. No one warned us," explained this farmer, tending to his cattle, barely keeping their
heads above water.
"The village is submerged. There is no way to get to our village," says this man. "Some families are now stranded. We appeal to the government to
send rescue teams and help these people."
A plea to an already overstretched government, grappling to deal with this unprecedented calamity -- Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Still ahead, a defiant message from Russia's president. Vladimir Putin says his country hasn't lost anything during its war on Ukraine. But
reports on the ground paint a different picture. We'll have a live report on that.
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KINKADE: Welcome back. The U.K. is accusing Putin of playing Russian roulette with nuclear safety as it continues occupying Ukraine's
Zaporizhzhya power plant. The British representative to the U.N. urged Russian troops to leave the facility after nuclear inspectors confirmed the
presence of Russian forces and equipment.
Russian president Vladimir Putin denies this and remains defiant about Moscow's losses during the war. He says his country has lost nothing in
Ukraine, even though the West is reporting severe shortages of Russian personnel.
CNN's Sam Kiley is in southern Ukraine with more on the military operations in the region.
Good to have you there for us, Sam. Russia is saying they lost nothing. Talk to us about this counter offensive, in speaking to foreign fighters,
who have been injured in this war.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let's first address the idea that Vladimir Putin -- Russia, rather -- has lost nothing
as a consequence of his invasion of Ukraine but it's subjected to international sanctions, it's losing oil and gas revenues.
It has economically been very, very badly hit. On the grounds, it has lost a large number of troops. Accurate figures extremely difficult to come by.
But many, many thousands, possibly tens of thousands have been killed and injured.
Now the Ukrainians are trying to take back the offensive initiative with a counter offensive here in the south, focused on the city of Kherson. But
foreign fighters we've been talking to and, indeed, Ukrainians involved in the front line on that fight say it's not going to be over anytime soon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go.
No panic, no panic.
This normal, this normal.
[10:20:00]
KILEY (voice-over): Among the most forward troops in Ukraine's latest counteroffensive, this really is normal. When the crunch of incoming
artillery is this intense, casualties in this reconnaissance unit, which includes three foreigners, are inevitable.
Mark Ayres, a Briton, was lightly wounded on day one of the offensive. On day two, he was more seriously wounded in the leg by artillery, alongside
Michael Zafar, a former U.S. marine from Kansas. He was hit in the hand, stomach and head. They joined Ukraine's Army together but met fighting ISIS
in Syria.
Zafar is the former U.S. Marine's Kurdish code name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am fine. Go.
KILEY: As recon troops, they've been the tip of Ukraine's attacks on its southern front in the fight to recapture Kherson.
MICHAEL ZAFAR, AMERICAN VOLUNTEER FIGHTER: I remember looking to my left and pop. I couldn't see anything for a bit. Everything looked the same.
Everything came to. Looked at my left, looked fine. Looked at my right, OK. I'm (INAUDIBLE) there, (INAUDIBLE) there. OK. To the hole, to the hole.
KILEY: It's going to be a slow grinding fight, they say, whatever the claims of Ukraine's government. This counteroffensive is being billed as
kind of a quick process. Do you think that's --
AYRES: No, definitely not. It won't be quick. I mean it's hard, slow- fought, meter by meter, position by position because we haven't got resources to do a massive blitzkrieg.
KILEY: U.S. weapons and other NATO equipment have proved useful but not decisive as Ukraine has captured a handful of villages since the
counteroffensive began. Here, Russian troops wave a white flag of surrender, precision artillery strikes by U.S.-supplied howitzers are
monitored by Zafar's unit with a drone.
Russia has motivated its troops with false claims that they're liberating Ukraine from Nazis. For Ukraine, it's a battle of national survival,
attracting help from around the world.
Do you feel sorry for the Russians?
AYRES: No. Not at all. It's not like Ukraine has invaded Russia. They've invaded Ukraine. They're here killing civilians, killing our soldiers. I've
got no sympathy for them whatsoever.
KILEY: Ukraine's imposed a news Blackout on the southern offensive and keeps his casualty figures secret. But for these men being wounded isn't
the end of combat. It's an interruption.
Are you going to go back?
ZAFAR: Yes, once everything heals on my body probably within three to four weeks. I should be right back out there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KILEY: Now the Pentagon suggested that Russia is so short of ammunition it's turning to North Korea to try to get supplies of millions in the
Pentagon's words, rockets and artillery shells, other supplies, to reinforce its effort.
Ultimately, it's going to be the men on the ground and the motivations that really matter here. And in terms of motivation, the Ukrainians still have
the upper hand.
KINKADE: And Sam, in terms of Europe's largest nuclear plant, the U.K. is accusing the Kremlin of playing Russian roulette with human lives. Just
talk to us about the consideration officials have for shutting down that plant.
What can you tell us?
KILEY: This is a really radical new idea from the Ukrainian government and the International Atomic Energy Agency, suggesting that, because they are
so concerned about the persistence and regular disconnection of these two active nuclear reactors out of six from the main network -- and these
cooling systems have to rely on backup diesel generators or rely on what's called islanding, generating their own power to keep themselves cool.
If they are persistently interrupted in terms of power supply to the nuclear reactors, then Ukraine suggesting that maybe they should shut them
down altogether and avoid some future meltdown.
I think this is partly brinkmanship because those nuclear reactors are a very important part, up to 20 percent of their peak of the total generating
power available to the Ukrainian government here in the country.
So it is the kind of last resort idea that's been mooted, basically, effectively, to mothball this nuclear power station for fear of something
much worse happening if this cooling system breaks down as a result of the fighting in and around the plant.
KINKADE: We will see whether those conversations go from here. Sam Kiley for us, some great reporting on the ground. Great work for you and your
team.
Well, let's get you up to speed on some other stories on our radar right now.
Part of India's I.T. hub, Bengaluru, is underwater following the extremely heavy rainfall. The city's drinking water supply was impacted Monday when
its pumping center was flooded.
[10:25:00]
KINKADE: The chief minister of the state of Karnataka said tankers providing residents with water until the normal supply is restored Friday.
New images are pouring in from the 6.6 magnitude earthquake Monday, which happened in China's southwest. At least 72 people are dead, 250 injured and
another 15 are missing; 200 tourists and workers had been trapped at a nature reserve as debris blocked a road.
CCTV reports they have now been brought to safety.
A typhoon that hit South Korea Tuesday has killed 10 people. Seven of the victims were from one apartment complex. Authorities say they had gone to
move their cars from an underground lot and became trapped in flooding. Thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Some of the most important nuclear secrets of the U.S. government were among the documents found by the FBI when it searched Donald Trump's
Florida home. This is according to "The Washington Post."
The documents outlined the nuclear capabilities of a foreign nation, which was seized during that search. "The Post" reporters who broke the story
said some of the documents at Mar-a-Lago contained information that is so secret, even top secret clearance won't permit you to see them.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DEVLIN BARRETT, "THE WASHINGTON POST": It's a type of top secret information that -- in what has been described to us, as some of the SAP
material that was seized, was so close hold that only the president, some cabinet secretaries and near cabinet-like officials were authorized to
share or allow other people in the government to see that kind of information.
So extremely close hold, extremely tightly held. And there was an allusion to this in one of the court filings, if you remember. One of the filings
said that even the investigators who recovered the material, some of them weren't, even though they were counter intelligence agents, some of them
weren't authorized to review some of the documents when they first found them.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KINKADE: We will have much more on that story next hour in an interview with CNN's national security analyst.
We have been looking at what officials and governments are trying to do to bring down the high cost of energy. Up next, we'll take a closer look at
the human cost of this crisis.
And as Italy looks for alternatives to Russian energy imports, a new plan will regulate heat in some buildings. The country's minister for ecological
transition will be here to discuss it.
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KINKADE: Welcome back, I'm Lynda Kinkade in Atlanta. You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD, good to have you with us.
As politicians debate what to do with the U.K.'s economic storm, CNN has been meeting some of those living through the worst of it. Isa Soares spoke
with Becka, a single mother in eastern England, who has five jobs. She is still struggling, as expenses rack up. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKA, SINGLE MOTHER: It's become so stressful. I can't sort of cope with it, just sort of burying my head in the sand and just trying to today, by
day, by day.
SOARES (voice-over): Becka is at breaking point. Months into a growing cost of living crisis that is only expected to get worse, she's struggling
with mounting costs.
BECKA: Now I go shopping with my phone out. Everything that goes in, I add it up, then I have to think, then stop getting to a certain amount. If we
don't have what we need, we have to put stuff back.
SOARES: How does that make you feel?
BECKA: Almost like a failure, right.
SOARES (voice-over): A burden no parent should have to feel. But as a single parent, Becka tells me she is doing her best for her 9-year-old
daughter, juggling five jobs, keeping budgets on track, yet still struggling to put food on the table.
SOARES: This is everything you've got from the food bank?
BECKA: Yes, this is what we got today.
SOARES: What's in here?
BECKA: This is frozen chicken.
SOARES (voice-over): It's the harsh reality that's sadly only going to get worse. Inflation is set to hit 13 percent by the end of the year. Add food,
fuel and soaring home energy costs and it becomes unbearable.
BECKA: I used to plan out my meals every week because we could do that. But now I'm not doing it, because who knows what I can afford, you know?
SOARES (voice-over): But for families like Becka's, this week has meant even more spending. Kids are back to school and parents have tough
decisions to make.
BECKA: For the shirts and for summer dresses, I bought them, like, size 12, you know, ridiculously, like, as high up as I think I could manage. She
doesn't wear shoes because it's more cost-effective if I just buy her boots. Then she can be dry in the winter and just sweat it out in the
summer.
SOARES (voice-over): It's a dilemma that is felt across the U.K., including here in London, where one teacher here tells me families have
already started asking the school for support.
EMYR FAIRBURN, HEADTEACHER, KING'S CROSS ACADEMY: And really, what can they do when bills are going to go up so much?
How are they going to afford for food?
That's where the parents are asking us and the impact on children's learning could be as great as it was during the pandemic, during lockdown.
SOARES (voice-over): There is no escaping the worst financial squeeze in 60 years but the poorest will bear the brunt of this crisis.
BECKA: We are down to our last thing of pesto.
SOARES (voice-over): The hunger, hardship, the mental anguish and the stigma of poverty.
BECKA: It's really shocking how difficult it is just to have the very basics. I just want to be able to eat real food, heat my house and wear
good clothes. That's what I want to have, you know?
SOARES (voice-over): Isa Soares, CNN, Norfolk, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: The U.K. is not alone. Italy is one of those countries scrambling to find other ways to generate energy before the cold sets in. Before the
war, it was importing almost half its gas from Russia.
Now Italy needs to reduce energy consumption and, to that end, the government has just announced it will turn down the heating in homes and
businesses in public buildings by one degree lower than it has been, topping out, generally, at about 19 degrees Celsius.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Roberto Cingolani is the Italian minister for Ecological Transition. He joins us now from Rome.
Good to have you on the program.
ROBERTO CINGOLANI, ITALIAN MINISTER FOR ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION: Hello. Thank you for inviting.
KINKADE: Household electricity costs are rising across Europe but Italy is amongst the worst. Italians are being asked to turn down the thermostat
this winter and also shorten the time that heating is on.
What is the goal?
How much energy could that save and how can you ensure compliance?
CINGOLANI: Yes, we have a gas saving plan (ph) at the moment that is impacted primarily on civil applications like heating or generation
electricity, public and private, both.
The forecast is that we should save, depending on how many people will follow the guidelines, between four and nine billions cubic meter and this
is within the range that has been approved by the European Union for the gas saving program.
I will say this. We have already replaced 25 billions cubic meter of gas by other sources to replace the Russian supply, that was 21 billions last
year.
[10:35:00]
CINGOLANI: So we are replacing the Russian gas. In the meantime, we have launched our gas saving program.
KINKADE: So given that, how do you feel heading into winter?
CINGOLANI: At the moment, I mean, winter is not only how we buy gas but also depends on the storage capability. Our storage, has reached
approximately 84 percent now, so progressing quite well. The target is to reach 90 percent storage by October. That's approximately 12.8 billions
cubic meters.
I think if the winter will be reasonably cold, on the standard, on the average of the last few years, without big sacrifice and without touching
industrial activities, we should be able to carry on.
KINKADE: Minister, we heard earlier from Ursula van der Leyen, the E.U. commission president in the show. I just want to play a little more sound
of what she had to say. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VON DER LEYEN: At the beginning of the war, if you looked at the imported gas, 40 percent of it was Russian gas since a long time. Today, we are down
to 9 percent only. So these are the five measures we will discuss with the member states at the informal council -- energy minister council on Friday.
These are tough times and they are not over soon. But I am deeply convinced that, if we show the solidarity, the unity and we have the determination
for that, we have the economic strength, we have the political will, that we shall overcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Minister, given this proposal and what we've seen so far, has Europe, as a whole, done enough to wean itself of Russian foreign fuels?
CINGOLANI: Actually Europe has a very in homogenous (ph) mechanism for gas supply. As you know, a military (ph) resistance is quite well
interconnected. We have a five gas pipeline plus three reciprocators (ph) for liquid natural gas and we're installing two new reciprocators (ph).
Other countries and other member states have less interconnection in terms of pipelines and they are installing more reciprocators (ph) for instance.
So it is hard to say there is a single solution for all countries in Europe.
We are trying to be very flexible. Solidarity within the member states, of course, is very important. And I think the most important point is we have
to replace this 40 percent Russian gas on average, (INAUDIBLE) about 40 percent Russian gas, by different sources.
And I think most of the countries in Europe will use the GNL, natural liquefied gas. For other countries, like Italy, there will be a substantial
contribution from natural gas in pipeline that we get from African countries and other sources.
KINKADE: And Minister, of course, we have heard from the Russian president, earlier today, firing back about in particular this proposal by
Europe. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PUTIN (through translator): After the pandemic, different challenges arrived that have also been global in nature and pose a danger to the whole
world.
I'm talking about the West sanction fever, its brazen and aggressive attempts to force the others how to behave, deprive them of their
sovereignty and force them into submission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: So he was saying sanctions fever is wrecking European lives.
Is he correct?
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CINGOLANI: No, look, I'm proud to say that Italy is a big democracy. Europe is a class of democracies. We are used to discuss and negotiate and
to cooperate in front of common challenges.
I mean, of course, if you start treating those problems with a totalitarian culture, you might misunderstand what's going on in Europe. At the moment,
we are just collaborating and trying to find peaceful solutions to a problem that has been created by this horrible war that Russia has launched
against Ukraine.
KINKADE: And just quickly, your job is to relaunch Italy with green policies.
Have you squared that with Europe's mad scramble for fossil fuels?
CINGOLANI: No, look, we -- within the gas saving plan, we have planned already to extend the operation of three or maybe four coal power
generators. Italy, at the moment, is producing 4 percent of its electricity by coal burning. We are quite ahead on the phaseout.
[10:40:00]
CINGOLANI: It was supposed to be completely phased out of the coal, completely phase out by 2025. So it will delay a little bit just to produce
some more electricity but burning coal. And this will let us save about 2 billion cubic meters of gas in the next couple of years.
This will be a transitory decision and the additional -- the extra on the capital I said (ph) which will be produced will be largely compensated by
the impressive increase in the installation of renewable sources.
In the first eight months of 2022, we have requests for connection of new renewable power stations amounting to 9.3 gigawatts. So you see, we
compensate by far the little excess of carbon dioxide fuel that we will produce by producing gas with coal for a couple of years maximum.
And this will contribute to the gas saving strategy without impacting the environment.
Will it keep the role to 55 percent decarbonization by 2030?
KINKADE: Italian minister Roberto Cingolani, appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us.
Still to come on CONNECT THE WORLD, one of the most storied football clubs in the world looking for a new manager?
Why Chelsea has said goodbye to Thomas Tuchel, coming up.
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