BRUSSELS (Washington Insider Magazine) – On Monday, European Union countries battled to come to an agreement on how to wean the EU off its dependency on Russian natural gas. They wanted to reassure nervous and anxious domestic customers while maintaining unity as Russia turns off the flow.
Gas exports have been turned into a political weapon by Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to persuade the EU to ease its sanctions related to the war in Ukraine. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to Russia’s reduction in gas shipments as “a form of terror” and encouraged European nations to retaliate by ramping up sanctions on Moscow.
A possible solution that may keep all 27 countries in line by Tuesday night was still being negotiated by envoys on Monday, the day before an emergency conference to discuss plans to reduce EU gas usage by 15% over the following months, according to ABC NEWS.
A senior diplomat who wanted to remain anonymous due to the continuing nature of the negotiations stated, “This is still a work in progress.”
The EU is preparing for a potential complete Russian shutdown of natural gas supply, which could make the next winter very cold and particularly vulnerable to countries like Germany’s booming economy. However, several other EU nations, like Portugal and Spain, which rely less on Russian gas, do not want to impose such a significant decrease on their citizens.
So far, Russia has decreased or stopped supplying gas to a dozen EU nations. It said on Monday that it will reduce flows via a significant pipeline to Germany by another 50% this week, to 20% of capacity. As envoys haggled over EU preparations, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline cuts further jeopardized efforts to fill European gas holding tanks for the winter.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, foresaw it when she announced the proposal. She is certain that Putin will halt natural gas supplies in an effort to destabilize the economy and politics of Europe this winter.
The diplomat claimed that ambassadors had been working constantly on the contentious topic in an effort to limit the executive European Commission’s authority, which, under its plan, would have allowed it to circumvent member nations in order to enact such cutbacks.
First and foremost, the diplomat argued, was the requirement to provide EU countries the authority to determine when such cutbacks should become obligatory. Part national capitals have long opposed giving some of their control over energy policy to EU authorities in Brussels. Last week, officials from Hungary allegedly traveled to Moscow to look for more energy imports.
Spain and Portugal have already said that requiring cutbacks is impossible. They pointed out that they consume far less Russian gas than nations like Germany and Italy and that there are few energy links connecting them to the rest of Europe.
As envoys looked at exclusions for island countries that are not linked to other grids, for Baltic countries that have strong ties to the Russian energy system, or for countries whose industries largely rely on gas imports, a one-size-fits-all resolution appeared to be off the table on Monday.
It won’t be simple to reduce EU gas consumption by 15% between August and next March. The European Commission made it clear that its suggested goal would need all EU nations to quadruple the reductions they have already made since Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24.
However, there is apprehension about seeming solidaristic in front of the rest of the world, notably Russia.
The EU authorized prohibitions on Russian coal and oil during the conflict, but natural gas was left out since the union relies on gas to heat houses, power factories, and produce electricity.
The commission’s recommendations are intended to guarantee that critical sectors and services, including hospitals, can continue to operate in the event of a Russian shutdown while others would have to make cuts. This may involve cooling down public buildings’ heating systems and encouraging households to save energy at home.
