Petr Fiala is getting his government into a potentially dangerous situation by misleading voters about the country’s access to natural gas. The storage tanks are more than 80% full, he boasts, but he doesn’t talk about who owns the gas or what it would take for the CR to gain possession of it. He also speaks about covering one-third of annual consumption with LNG from the Netherlands without mentioning that the gas hasn’t actually been bought. There are no covid-like tables giving daily updates of how much gas is available, how long it would last at various consumption levels, how many companies are in critical condition, and how many have already died. He told the nation in his energy speech on June 22 that the first priority is to secure enough gas for the winter and that disconnecting from Russia comes second. A group of businesspeople is working to bring in up to 7bn cubic meters of Russian gas, but Fiala isn’t interested. Maybe these people are overestimating their own negotiating capabilities, but if the CR ends up having little or no gas this winter, Fiala’s rejection of their efforts will be remembered.

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