Gas, EU task force for joint purchases

The European Commission is preparing to create an EU Task Force for the joint purchase of gas at EU level, as happened with the anti-Covid vaccines. By assembling the purchasing power of the member states, the Task Force will facilitate gas purchases on the international market, to accelerate the decoupling from Russian gas, on which the EU remains very dependent, particularly in some countries including Italy and Germany. The Task Force would be supported by member states in a steering committee: a team of negotiators led by the Commission will negotiate with gas suppliers, looking “beyond” natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). For the Commission, the Task Force will be “inspired” by the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which pan-European action was “crucial” to ensure sufficient supplies of vaccines to European countries. In 2020, the EU consumed 399.6 billion cubic meters of gas: the main consumer is Germany, with 91.2 billion cubic meters, followed by Italy with 71.3 billion cubic meters, the Netherlands with 44, from France with 39.5 and from Spain with 32.1.