By Anne Rovan
Posted 3 hours ago, updated 1 hour ago
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday in the European Commission. YVES HERMAN / R
Brussels is asking member states to reduce their gas consumption by 15% from August 1, 2022. In the event of major difficulties, this target would become binding.
correspondent in Brussels,
Europe swung into a war economy on Wednesday, July 20th. The Commission has presented its battle plan to prepare the EU for the worst-case scenario of a complete disruption to Russia’s gas supplies. As a reminder, in 2021 Russia supplied around 150 billion m³ of gas, ie 40% of EU imports. While Vladimir Putin has been working for several months to play on nerves of Europeans to retaliate against sanctions against the war in Ukraine, and while worries about the restoration – and by what volume – of the Nord Stream gas pipeline 1 dominates – the announcement is expected on Thursday – so the Commission takes the lead. “The goal is to limit the risks, to show Putin and the markets that Europe can weather such a crisis,” confides a diplomat.
The Commission’s plan, entitled “Gas saving for a safe winter”, is based on a triptych: substitution, solidarity and sobriety. Of course the…
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