Dresden (dpa / sn) - Energy Minister Wolfram Günther has welcomed the decision to invest the federal government in the Leipzig gas importer VNG. It gives VNG security and predictability. "This is important for security of supply," said the Green politician on Friday evening. VNG, its majority shareholder EnBW from Karlsruhe and the Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin had previously announced that the importer would receive several hundred million euros from the state. The group is therefore withdrawing an application for so-called stabilization measures made at the beginning of September, it said.

The importer from Leipzig submitted the application because, as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, he had to buy gas more expensively than he was allowed to sell it. Günther emphasized that hundreds of municipal utilities and industrial customers depend on VNG. That is why the group is systemically important, said the minister.