The countries agreed to reduce gas consumption by 15%.
On Tuesday, the governments of the European Union agreed on rationing of natural gas this winter to protect against any further cuts in supply from Russia.
EU energy ministers approved a draft European law designed to reduce gas demand by 15% from August to March. The legislation provides for voluntary steps to reduce gas consumption and, if they lead to insufficient savings, trigger mandatory action in the 27-member bloc. that this sacrifice is necessary. We must and we will share this pain,” Czech Industry Minister Josef Sikela told reporters after presiding over a meeting in Brussels, writes AFP.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the move, saying that “The EU has taken a decisive step to counter the threat of a complete gas cut by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
Energy ministers approved the law a day after Russian energy corporation Gazprom said it would reduce gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 20% of capacity from Wednesday. Natural gas prices jumped on Tuesday to their highest level since early March, according to Europe's TTF benchmark, and more than five times a year ago.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February, and the West imposed economic sanctions in protest, 12 EU countries have faced the suspension or reduction of Russian gas supplies.
Gazprom said the reduction in Nord Stream 1 was caused by delays in receiving a repaired turbine for the pipeline. The turbine that was repaired in Canada has not yet been installed, and another turbine is expected to shut down because it needs repair now, Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
“The situation is critically complicated by the introduced restrictions and sanctions against our country,” Peskov added. “If it were not for these restrictions, all maintenance, warranty and service operations would be carried out in a normal, routine and operational mode, without causing situations like the one we are seeing now.”
According to the ministerial agreement signed in less than a week, the 27 EU member states are free to decide how best to achieve the goal of reducing average annual gas consumption by 15% over the last five years.
France, for example, wants to save energy by lowering the temperature of office thermostats in winter and ensuring more efficient use of air conditioners in public buildings and shops, among other measures.
Exceptions are allowed for countries that may have certain vulnerability factors or may have difficulties related with certain abbreviations.
The legislation was based on a July 20 proposal by the commission, which seeks to preserve the EU's united front in a war that shows no signs of ending. It said coordinated rationing would allow the bloc to survive the winter as a whole if Russia cut off gas supplies.
While the EU has agreed to impose an embargo on oil and coal from Russia starting later this year, the bloc has refrained from imposing sanctions on Russian natural gas, as Germany, Italy and some other member states are heavily dependent on imported gas.
“Germany has made a strategic mistake in the past because of its heavy dependence on Russian gas and its belief that it will always come constantly and cheaply,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who is also in charge of energy and is the country's vice chancellor. “But it's not just a German problem.”
Disruptions in Russia's energy trade with the EU have already pushed inflation in Europe to record levels and threaten to trigger a recession just as the bloc has been recovering from a downturn caused by the pandemic.
The energy crisis is also reviving political challenges. While the EU has gained centralized power over monetary, trade, antitrust and agricultural policies, national sovereignty in energy matters still largely prevails.
Tuesday's deal marks another milestone in EU policy integration and crisis management. Past EU legislative initiatives on energy have often involved months or years of negotiations between national governments.
