The majority needed in the EU Council for a significantly watered down version of the Commission’s plan was quickly achieved on Tuesday. The core is a purely voluntary 15% savings. There is also a mechanism that should make this savings target mandatory in the event of an emergency.
EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson and Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela, whose country currently holds the Council presidency, praised the agreement. Like many others, Simson referred to the quick decision, less than a week after the contingency plan was presented by the Commission.
Simson warns of the plan’s limits
However, due to the exceptions decided, Simson warned that, after an initial calculation, the savings targets will only be enough to safely get through a normal winter in the event of a stop in Russian deliveries. According to her, a delivery stop in July will not be enough for a cold winter. Simson spoke of the required savings of 30 billion cubic meters for an average winter and 45 billion cubic meters for a cold winter.
Gewessler: “Important Sign”
Despite the exceptions, Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) believes the target can be achieved. In Austria, ten percent has already been saved compared to the previous year, said the Greens politician. “It shows that it is possible to save, we can achieve it, it is a feat of strength, but it can be done.” Gewessler stressed before the start of the meeting that contributions from industry, the public sector and households would be needed.
The energy minister described the compromise after the meeting as an “important signal”. “Europe cannot be divided – we face Putin’s perfidious strategy,” Gewessler said, referring to the Russian president. She also emphasized solidarity between member states and once again called on the European Commission to accelerate the joint purchase of gas.
Meanwhile, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, believes that Europe is not sufficiently prepared despite the emergency plan. To avoid a major crisis, Europe must reduce its gas consumption by 20%.
debate
How to prepare for a possible energy crisis?
Sikela: “Signal for the Kremlin”
Sikela stressed that they wanted to send a “strong signal” of unity to the world and especially to the Kremlin, which the Czech Council president accused of intentionally wanting to raise the price of gas. Sanctions if a state violates the requirements were not discussed.
The deal had been apparent since the night before. Gazprom’s announcement that it would drastically reduce gas supplies may have helped. EU Energy Commissioner Simson called this cut “politically motivated”.
EU agrees to gas emergency plan
In view of the impending shortage of gas in Europe through the winter, EU energy ministers agreed to the gas emergency plan on Tuesday. The required majority has been reached. The plan, which has already been severely weakened, provides for a voluntary savings of 15%.
Habeck: “Signs Against All Mockers”
After the deal, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck spoke of a strong political signal against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s blackmail attempts. Habeck also referred to the deal, which was very quick by EU standards, and spoke of a “strong signal against all those who mock and despise the EU”.
According to Habeck, the amount is approximately enough to absorb a total failure of Russian gas. He stressed that one should no longer be surprised if Moscow completely shuts off the gas tap, at most if it doesn’t.
Austria
Haidach Storage should now be populated
Sulik recommends restarting nuclear plants
The Slovak counterpart, Robert Sulik, pointed out that, with a few exceptions, his country has achieved a higher volume than consumption in recent years. Germany advised Sulik to reconnect its nuclear plants to the grid so that half of the needed gas savings potential could be replaced at once, according to Sulik. Habeck disagreed, stressing that three nuclear plants first had to go through an approval process, the others could only replace a fraction of the gas requirement.
At the same time, the green politician contradicted claims that only Germany was particularly dependent on Russian gas. “It’s a Central and Eastern European problem,” he said. “People very blindly relied on cheap, cheap, always flowing Russian gas for a long time.”
Voluntary reduction in gas consumption
As proposed by the European Commission, the plan provides for a voluntary reduction of national consumption by 15% between August 1 and March 31. With the help of reduced consumption, the EU is expected to get through the winter even with the total shutdown of gas supplies from Russia. The plan also provides for the possibility of raising a Union alarm in the event of major supply bottlenecks and setting binding savings targets instead of voluntary ones.
Significantly more planned exceptions
Compared to the Commission’s first draft, however, there are many more possible exceptions, and the obstacles to the mandatory introduction of targets have also been increased. The latter should only be able to be applied by the Council of Member States and not by the EU Commission. In concrete terms, this means that a Commission proposal for binding savings targets needs approval from a group of 15 out of 27 EU countries. Furthermore, they must together constitute at least 65 percent of the total population of the Union.
The exceptions should, for example, provide that countries such as Cyprus, Malta and Ireland are not obliged to save gas as long as they are not directly connected to the gas network of another Member State. In other countries, for example, gas storage efforts, the impending electricity crisis and the consumption of gas as a raw material for fertilizer production – the latter affects Germany, among others – should be able to reduce the savings mandatory.
Hungary voted against
Hungary voted against the plan. According to a government spokesman, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said: “This decision is completely unacceptable to Hungary and its implementation is out of the question.” Hungarian interests are being ignored. Greece and Poland spoke out against mandatory measures. Some EU diplomats have expressed concern that the exceptions could result in very little gas savings in the end.
Much stricter original plan
The original plan caused quite a stir, especially in southern Europe. In accordance with the wishes of the EU Commission, all countries should have reduced their gas consumption by March by 15%, measured against the average of the last five years. If consumption doesn’t decline quickly enough, Brussels wanted to set mandatory savings targets.
ORF.at/Florian Bock In Brussels, energy ministers agreed on the emergency plan
Haidach will be filled from August
Meanwhile, the Haidach natural gas storage facility is expected to be filled from August 1. According to the Ministry of Climate, RAG Austria AG is responsible as the technical operator of the system. The company has already started to commercialize the capabilities and business inquiries are classified according to the “first come, first served” principle. The step is intended to help meet Austrian storage goals for the fall.
Due to the lack of storage at the Haidach storage facilities by the Russian group Gazprom, the government passed a legal regulation according to which all storage facilities in Austria must also be used. If a reservoir is not systematically filled, other companies should have the opportunity to store there.
The Haidach storage facility has recently caused debates in Bavaria because it is currently only connected to the German grid and is important for supplying Bavaria.
Gazprom reduces the volume of supply
Russian gas company Gazprom announced on Monday that it would further reduce deliveries via the Baltic Sea pipeline “Nord Stream 1”. According to Gazprom, starting Wednesday at 6am, 20% or 33 million cubic meters of gas will flow through the most important pipeline to Germany every day. The reason for this was the repair of another turbine, the company said. Minister Gewessler, on the other hand, said in ZIB2, referring to regulatory authority E-Control, that there was “no technically understandable reason for this announcement”. According to the minister, a “political announcement” must be assumed.