Brussels proposes a mandatory reduction of 15% of gas – RTVE

Europe is preparing for a possible total gas supply cut-off by Russia. With this objective, the European Commission presented this Wednesday an emergency plan that includes, among other measures, a 15% reduction in the total gas consumption of each country during the next eight months – between August 1, 2022 and the March 31, 2023-. At the moment it is a voluntary measure, but it could become mandatory for all countries, regardless of their dependency, if the energy crisis with Russia gets complicated. “Russia is blackmailing us, it is using energy as a weapon” “Russia is blackmailing us, it is using energy as a weapon and, if it is a partial or total gas cut, Europe has to be prepared”, said the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who has been in charge of explaining the details of the document ‘Save gas for a safe winter’, which will be discussed next Tuesday, July 26, by the Ministers of Energy of the European Union (EU) . In said text, the Commission urges governments to undertake “public awareness” campaigns to limit air conditioning or heating in public buildings, as well as in homes; and to give incentives to companies and industry to use alternative fuels whenever possible. “If sufficient progress is not made or the situation deteriorates, the Commission may activate a European alert at any time to force a 15% reduction in consumption,” warned the Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson. As he pointed out, the Commission does not intend to “tell the Member States what measures to take to achieve this” although it does offer them a range of possible options in the face of possible gas supply cuts from Moscow, which before the start of the conflict in Ukraine meant the 40% of gas imports to the community market, according to Eurostat data. All countries “are going to suffer the consequences” Von der Leyen herself has recognized that this 15% reduction “is asking a lot” of the community partners, but has warned that, in the event of a supply cut by Russia, “everyone will suffer the consequences” to a greater or lesser extent. For this reason, he has called for “unity” and solidarity”, since in his opinion “the worst enemy of the EU would be fragmentation”. “It is important that all States contribute by saving, storing and being willing to share the gas with their neighbors if necessary”, he insisted. At the moment, a total of 11 states are in an “early warning situation” regarding their gas reserves and another of them, Germany, is on “alert”. “Russia is calculatingly pressuring us ( …) We have to continue with the preparations,” the president stated. “Russia is using gas as a weapon. We have to address our energy security at EU level. We learned from the pandemic that if we act in unity, we can address any crisis.So let’s act together to reduce gas use and provide a safety net for all EU countries. considers restricting gas to “no type of consumer” In the case of Spain, the third and m vice president Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, assured this Thursday that the Government is not considering the hypothesis of restricting gas to “any type of consumer”. And he has affirmed that Spain will show solidarity with the rest of Europe, “but not at the expense of domestic and industrial consumers”, who have been paying “a very high bill for a long time” and “do not deserve restrictions or rationing”. has been preparing a contingency plan for weeks to deal with a possible energy ‘shock’. To do this, the third vice president has met in recent weeks with the main energy companies -electricity, gas and oil employers- and the most representative unions, in order to gather her ideas and opinions. In this sense, according to the proposal of the European Commission, the community partners must update their national emergency plans before the end of September to show how they plan to meet the reduction objective, and they must report to Brussels on the progress made every two months. In addition, those EU countries that request the solidarity gas supply must demonstrate that they have taken the necessary measures to reduce demand in their internal market. Fear of a recession in Europe Few rule out that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, fulfills his threats, and closes the gas tap to Europe in the coming months, even before if the provisional cut for maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline -which leads directly gas to Germany, Holland and Austria, among other countries- becomes definitive as of July 21. Brussels is already warning that this could have fatal consequences for the community economy. Mainly, due to the dependence of some countries such as Germany, which due to its weight in the EU and its close ties with the rest of the countries, a possible recession could extend to the rest of the partners. This same Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the total closure of Russia’s gas supply to Europe would have a devastating effect on the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, which could see their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fall. around 6%. In the absence of receiving the go-ahead from the Twenty-seven next Tuesday, the truth is that the measure was born with controversy. The body chaired by Von der Leyen wants to approve the text with the urgent procedure, that is, without counting on the European Parliament, which has caused the discomfort of some groups.