Spain was the first country to reject the original Brussels proposal to reduce gas consumption by 15%, a position that was later joined by others such as Portugal and Greece
The energy ministers of the European Union (EU) will try to close a political agreement this Tuesday on the Brussels plan to reduce 15% gas consumption with a view to winter, fearing a total cutoff of supply by Russia.
The matter will be dealt with in an extraordinary Energy Council wheree countries hope to agree on a plan presented last week by the European Commission which has generated “a lot of debate”, as could be seen in the first meeting of the permanent ambassadors to the EU last Friday, diplomatic sources explained on Monday.
The representatives of the countries meet again this Monday seeking to approximate positions, with a view to Tuesday’s Council.
Spain was the first country to reject the original proposal for Brussels, a position that was later joined by others such as Portugal and Greece.
Since then many other delegations have raised objections for one reason or another. Germany, highly dependent on Russian gas importseitherhowever, has been in favor of the Brussels proposal from day one.
Improve energy reserves
Despite the “open issues” still, European headlines trust be able to conclude a political agreement tomorrow on the Regulationaccording to the same sources.
Brussels raised in its proposal presented on July 20 in the first place a voluntary cut in gas consumption to improve energy reserves and, in the event that the situation worsens, mandatory reductions.
The Czech Republic, which is presiding over the Council of the EU this semester, is currently leading the negotiation between the States on that proposalin which some changes have already been made to the original text of the Commission, diplomatic sources indicated.
In the latest draft text, though the objective of a 15% cut in gas consumption is maintainedmodifications have been proposed that would allow countries to request derogations for a series of reasons, such as geographical location.
The objective sought is “to allow reductions to be moderated” in exchange for commitments from the countries to increase as much as possible energy transfers between Member States.
Another change introduced in the original proposal is that they be five member states (instead of just the Commission as indicated in the first proposal) those who can request the declaration of the state of alert that would trigger the obligation to cut gas consumption.
In any case, even if requested by the European Commission as if it were the initiative of five Member States, the alert declaration could only be adopted with the support of a qualified majority of countries, the sources indicated.
Solidarity between Member States
Despite the progress, there is “a whole set of open questions, some of a legal nature, others of a political or ethical nature”, which the States continue to debate, including the particular situation of islands, such as Malta, which do not have energy connections.
Regarding Spain’s position with a view to this Tuesday’s meeting, the country has “a fundamental commitment to solidarity” and the “conviction that we must remain united while remaining effective and proportionate.”
“We cannot rush things and adopt measures that are not well calibrated,” the sources pointed out, and indicated that the key is unity, since being divided would favor the interests of Russia.
On the other hand, the ministers will speak on Tuesday in the Security Council of the energy supply and possible measures to encourage consumers to reduce demand.
In particular, they will explain how they intend to stimulate demand reduction from protected consumers (which includes the health or education sector), what measures can be applied to ensure stable supply and how to make use of additional measures.
at work lunchthe European heads will hold a meeting by videoconference with the head of Energy of Ukraine to discuss measures to strengthen energy security and the electricity and gas markets in that country.