EU-Kommission stellt Gas-Notfallplan vor

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, seconded by the Commissioners for Climate, Energy and Industry, appealed for common solidarity: "All member states must save, store and share gas," said von der Leyen. These are challenging times, but it will be possible if all 27 member countries act as one.

Should Russia abruptly halt its gas exports to Europe, the gap between supply and demand in an average cold winter would be at least 30 billion cubic meters. Based on the rarely used emergency article 122 of the EU treaties, the EU Commission proposes that the member states urgently adopt the following measures "in the spirit of solidarity":

Gas consumption in all member states is to be reduced by 15 percent immediately through savings in industry and private consumers. The reference value for the reduction target is consumption in 2019, i.e. before the corona pandemic. The savings target also applies to countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal and the Baltic States, which do not purchase Russian gas. So far, the EU has saved around five percent of gas since the start of the Russian war against Ukraine. That is not enough, said EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.

• The level of gas storage in the EU, which currently averages 65 percent, is to be increased to 80 percent by storing unused gas through savings.


• The consumption of gas for power generation should be reduced by more use of coal, oil and other types of energy.


• The EU member states should buy gas together on a voluntary basis in order to lower the price on the international markets. They are also required to supply each other with gas in the event of a supply gap. This is already specified in an existing SOS regulation (Security Of Supply). It calls on the EU members to voluntarily enter into bilateral agreements with one another. So far, however, there are only a few of them. There is no quota system for the central distribution of scarce gas by the EU headquarters in Brussels.


• The search for alternative gas suppliers in the USA, Canada, Qatar, Algeria, Azerbaijan and other countries should be intensified. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calculated that since the Russian attack on Ukraine began, the EU has already been able to secure more supplies of "non-Russian gas" than Russia has cut in the same period.

So what is the problem Ursula ... "already secured more gas supplies than Russia has cut in the same period."

'Sapere aude'