EU countries must continue to reduce their gas consumption. The EU Energy Ministers agreed on this in Brussels on Monday. The accompanying regulation, which expires at the end of March, will be replaced by a recommendation.
This encourages EU countries to keep their gas consumption 15 percent lower than the average over the period April 2017 to March 2022 to the end of March 2025. This value was not mandatory under existing regulations. It would only have become binding if the EU countries had activated a so-called Union alert. This option and reporting obligations no longer apply.
“We have come a long way since 2022 by taking coordinated actions in the EU and responding quickly to the energy crisis caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” Belgian Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten said in a statement.
Gewessler: Putin is not a reliable partner
Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) participated in the meeting from Austria. She confirmed in advance that Austria wanted to become independent of Russian gas. The Russian president is not a reliable partner. “Vladimir Putin will use every opportunity he has to put pressure on us, to blackmail us.” The transit contract between Ukraine and the Russian company Gazprom expires at the end of this year, which could also mean an end to deliveries to Austria. According to Gewessler, good precautions have been taken.
On Monday, she also joined the call of several EU states demanding that the German government end the gas storage tax: “The gas storage tax means that we are making non-Russian natural gas in particular more expensive. They also do not correspond to the common rules that we have set for ourselves in the European internal market,” the minister said.
This is a surcharge on the gas price intended to cover the costs of storage. It is also collected from German companies and consumers.
Source: Krone

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