European governments are trying to water down Brussels’ plans to get the bloc to cut gas demand to better cope with Russian supply shortages this winter.
Diplomats from the EU’s 27 member states have been in talks since the European Commission last week proposed measures requiring countries to cut gas use by 15 percent from next month. The plan has sparked controversy over the size of the target and whether Brussels has the power to make it binding. It must be approved by member states at a meeting of energy ministers this week.
In a draft proposal seen by the Financial Times, EU countries suggest that while a voluntary target could be standardized across the bloc, mandatory targets should take into account each country’s dependence on Russian gas, as well as the amount they have been able to target storage.
The reduction should also be smaller if a Member State has additional gas that it can supply to others in the EU either through LNG supplies or pipelines. Certain industries considered critical to the single market should also be exempted, according to the draft.
“Member States should be free to choose the appropriate measures to achieve demand reduction,” the draft says.
Brussels is agonizing over how to prepare for a potential cut in energy supplies this winter as Moscow uses gas supplies in retaliation for European support for Kyiv in its war against Russia.
Before Moscow’s incursion, the EU relied on Russia for about 40 percent, or 155 billion cubic meters, of its gas, but has since pledged to cut those supplies by 2027.
Last week, the European Commission proposed that member states aim to cut gas by 15 percent over the next eight months compared to the average for the same period between 2017 and 2021.
The voluntary reduction target will become mandatory if the commission deems the energy crisis has become serious enough, or if three member states ask for it to be changed.
But EU governments – particularly from southern European countries that have generally been less reliant on Russia – have complained that the commission has exceeded its powers and that the 15 percent target is too high.
Under the draft alternative proposals, at least five member states would have to request a so-called “union alert” status, which would make the targets binding, while a majority of countries would have to approve the request.
It also recommended that countries have an extra month until the end of October to submit their “national emergency” plans to the Commission.
One EU diplomat described the draft compromise as the “mother of all exemptions” given the number of exemptions member states can request.
The plan will be discussed at another meeting of EU ambassadors on Monday before being put to an emergency meeting of energy ministers on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Sam Fleming in Brussels
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