The 27 member states of the European Union reached an agreement on the extraordinary arrangements to reduce natural gas consumption in view of the difficult winter ahead, during the meeting of ministers responsible for energy issues in Brussels at noon on Tuesday, as announced by the Czech Presidency of the EU .
“It wasn’t Mission Impossible after all! Ministers reached political agreement to reduce gas demand ahead of next winter,” the Czech Republic’s account, which holds the EU presidency this semester, noted on Twitter.
Earlier in the morning, the German Agency had reported that European Union member states had reached an agreement overnight on the emergency plan for natural gas consumption, which was drawn up to soften the impact of a potential complete disruption of gas supplies. 27 from Russia.
The plan envisages a voluntary 15% reduction in gas consumption by EU member states in the period from August 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, diplomats explained early in the morning.
In addition, it foresees the creation of a mechanism that will mean an alarm throughout the European Union in the event of widespread gas shortages and the implementation of binding targets in terms of savings and the creation of strategic reserves.
Achieving agreement required softening several of the stricter terms of the original plan and introducing several opt-out clauses, while the ceiling on binding savings limits was raised.
Under the terms of the amended agreement, binding targets for gas savings will be imposed by the European Council rather than the European Commission.
The process of approving the amended emergency plan is expected to begin later today, at a special council of energy ministers. According to the diplomats cited by the German Agency, its approval with an enhanced majority is expected to be easy.
The exemptions agreed mean that countries such as Cyprus, Malta and Ireland will not need to store gas, as their distribution systems are not directly connected to those of other member states.
Mandatory gas savings will also be able to be reduced under specific conditions, for example when storage facilities are full, in cases of power outages or for the use of gas by industry as a raw material.
Yesterday Monday, the Russian energy giant Gazprom announced that it has reduced the supply of gas to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from 40% to 20% of its capacity.
It is precisely this scenario that prompted the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to submit a proposal to save and store gas reserves across the EU, a Commission representative said in Brussels yesterday afternoon.
During the negotiations of the EU member states, four member states expressed major reservations and objections to the content of the agreement, always according to the diplomatic sources cited by the German Agency.
Germany, one of the countries heavily dependent on Russian gas, strongly supports the plan. German Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck was present at the energy ministers’ council later today.
Source: Capital
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