Filenews 26 July 2022
European Union energy ministers have reached a political agreement to reduce gas demand ahead of next winter, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU said in a tweet.
An agreement on the emergency arrangements for reducing gas consumption in view of the difficult winter ahead of the difficult winter ahead was reached by the 27 Member States of the European Union, at 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 a political agreement to reduce demand for gas before next winter," the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency for the current six months, twitter account noted.
The plan turns the voluntary target cut of 15% in gas consumption into mandatory if an emergency occurs - for example, an almost total disruption of flows on the part of Russia, although it retains significant possibilities for exemptions for vulnerable countries or for countries that are completely dependent on the Union's internal gas transmission network.
Hungary was the only country to vote against the plan, Luxembourg's foreign minister Claude Turmes said.
The reduction of flows from Russia from Wednesday to 20% of the capacity of Nord Stream 1 makes it even more difficult to achieve the target of filling the EU's gas storage areas to 80% before winter and thus imposes the - initially voluntary - cuts.
The new rules are expected to become part of EU law within the next few days. They are, as Germany's Deputy Economy Minister said, Sven Giegold, an "unprecedented step towards european solidarity". Member States "which do not import Russian gas at all are showing their support for the rest and are committed to reducing consumption. This has never been done before."
Earlier in the morning, the German Agency (dpa) had reported that the Member States of the European Union had reached an agreement at night on the emergency plan for gas consumption, which was drawn up with the aim of mitigating the impact of the potential complete disruption of the supply of the 27 from Russia.
The draft agreement provided for a 15% voluntary 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.
To reach an agreement, several of the stricter conditions of the original plan had to be mitigated and several opt-out clauses had to be introduced, while the ceiling of the binding savings limits was raised.
Under the terms of the amended agreement, binding gas savings targets will be imposed by the European Council and not by the European Commission.
The process of approving the amended contingency plan is expected to start later today, at a special council of energy ministers. According to diplomats cited by the German Agency, its adoption by a qualified majority is expected to be easy.
The agreed exemptions mean that countries such as Cyprus, Malta and Ireland will not have to store gas reserves, since their distribution systems are not directly linked to those of other Member States.
Mandatory gas savings can also be reduced under certain conditions, for example when storage facilities are full, in the event of power cuts or for the use of gas by industry as a raw material.
On Monday, Russian energy giant Gazprom announced that it had reduced the supply of gas to Germany via 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 put forward a proposal to save and store gas reserves across the EU, a Commission spokesperson in Brussels said yesterday afternoon.
During the negotiations of the EU member countries, four member states expressed major reservations and objections to the content of the agreement, according to 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 even present at the council of energy ministers today.
