It’s time for sobriety. After difficult negotiations, the energy ministers of the European Union agreed at the end of July to reduce their gas consumption in a coordinated manner, in a context of risk of shortages due to the drastic drop in Russian deliveries. The only exception: Hungary, which opposed this text as “unjustifiable, useless, inapplicable and harmful”.
The agreement, which was published in the Official Gazette on Monday and therefore should officially enter into force on Tuesday, was nevertheless adopted by a qualified majority. It requires Member States to “make every effort to reduce their gas consumption” by at least 15% between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, compared to the average of the last five years during the same period.
To achieve this, “Member States are free to choose the appropriate measures”, it is stated. Provided, of course, that these measures do not compromise “the security of gas supply to other Member States or to the Union”, or that they “do not unduly distort competition or the proper functioning of the internal gas market”.
“alert” mechanism
The Council of Europe, on a proposal from the Commission, can also “declare a Union alert” in the event of “significant risk of a serious gas supply shortage or in the event of exceptionally high gas demand”. This mechanism will make the 15% reduction in gas consumption “binding” for Member States.
It will then be a “mandatory reduction in demand” which, however, will be adapted to the realities of each country. For example, a Member State whose electrical system is only synchronized with that of a third country may be exempt from this obligation “in the event that it is desynchronized with the system of that third country (…)”. The same for a Member State that is not “directly interconnected with the gas network of any other Member State”. The 15% reduction target can also be capped depending on a Member State’s stocks and capacity to export gas to countries in need.
Update every two months
In each Member State, the competent authority will have to “supervise the application of measures to reduce demand” for gas. “Every two months, and no later than the 15th of the following month, the Member States report to the Commission on the reduction in demand that has been achieved,” underlines the text of the agreement.
From these reports, the European Commission will be able to say if each country is on the right track respecting the obligation to reduce demand by 15%. If not, it will ask the Member State in question to “submit a plan setting out a strategy to achieve this”.
Source: BFM TV
