German authorities will be forced to shut down some sectors of the economy if they face a gas shortage, Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in an interview with Spiegel.

“All market processes will be suspended. It will be a disaster for some sectors. And we are not talking about two days or weeks, but a long time. We are talking about people who will lose their jobs and regions that will lose entire industrial complexes,” he warned. Germany is in for a difficult time, especially in winter, Habeck said.

At the same time, he said, the country’s residents have been united by these difficulties: Germans agree with the sanctions imposed against Russia and are therefore willing to endure some hardships.

Habeck assured that the government is doing everything to stabilize the situation: looking for new sources of supply, developing infrastructure. He urged the country’s residents to reduce their gas consumption as much as possible, but admitted that this might be more difficult for some categories of the population than for others.