EU members strike deal to cut Russian gas use

BRUSSELS – The European Union reached an agreement today on how to cut member states’ consumption of gas by 15% and reduce their dependence on Russian supplies.

Russian state-run giant Gazprom will slash supplies to Europe from tomorrow, threatening economies like Germany’s that rely on Moscow’s gas for energy and chemical production.   

But the 27 EU members, which have imposed economic sanctions on Russia to punish it for its invasion of Ukraine, met to agree on a way to cut gas use and share the burden of shortages.

“In an effort to increase EU security of energy supply, member states today reached a political agreement on a voluntary reduction of natural gas demand by 15% this winter,” the council of ministers said.

“The council regulation also foresees the possibility of triggering a ‘union alert’ on security of supply, in which case the gas demand reduction would become mandatory,” the statement continued.

“The purpose of the gas demand reduction is to make savings ahead of winter in order to prepare for possible disruptions of gas supplies from Russia that is continuously using energy supplies as a weapon.”

Luxembourg Energy Minister Claude Turmes tweeted that Hungary was the only member state to vote against the plan, which he dubbed the “best move to react to Putin’s gas blackmail”. – AFP, July 26, 2022