Brussels, July 26 (AFP/APP):EU ministers debated Tuesday how to reduce gas consumption this winter, an act of solidarity for Germany and a response to Russia’s manipulation of supplies as an economic weapon.
The plan, under discussion in Brussels, could see exceptions and carve-outs as European Union countries blanched at making too deep a sacrifice for Berlin and a few landlocked member states.
Germany, the EU’s economic powerhouse, is hugely dependent on Russian gas and remains at the mercy of the supply from Gazprom for the years still needed to find alternative sources.
“It is true that Germany… with its dependence on Russian gas… has made a strategic mistake but our government is working… to correct this,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said as he arrived.
“It’s not only a German problem; it’s a central-eastern European problem. We have to solve it together.”
France said showing solidarity to Berlin would help all of Europe, even though Germany takes a major share of the 40 percent of EU gas imports that came from Russia last year.
“Our industrial chains are completely interdependent: if the chemical industry in Germany coughs, the whole of European industry could come to a halt,” said French minister for energy transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher.
The plan under consideration would ask member states to voluntarily reduce gas use by 15 percent starting next month and over the subsequent winter through March.
Czech industry minister Jozef Sikela, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the plan would deliver a strong answer to state-run Gazprom’s plan to cut gas deliveries to Europe.
Gazprom has said it is cutting daily gas deliveries to about 20 percent of capacity from Wednesday.
The Gazprom cut to its main pipeline, he said, “is just an additional… proof that we have to take the game in our hands and we have to reduce the dependencies on Russian supplies as soon as possible”.
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