In the past decade, Germany has repeatedly taken a different path in the EU – especially with regard to the energy transition. No major European country has phased out nuclear power completely, and no country has become so dependent on Russian natural gas. The more Vladimir Putin throttles gas supplies to the EU, the more the question of European solidarity comes into focus. Will the countries that, thanks to their energy policies, have been less affected by the Ukraine war than Germany come to Germany’s aid – or will they only focus on the needs of their own people?
A first important compromise has now been found to prevent a winter of gas selfishness in Europe. According to information from the German Press Agency, the representatives of EU countries agreed on an emergency plan to reduce gas consumption. It is to be officially confirmed this Tuesday at a special meeting of energy ministers in Brussels and reduce the risks that could arise from a complete disruption of Russian gas supplies.
As diplomats from the German Press Agency confirmed on Tuesday night, the plan, as proposed by the EU Commission, envisages a voluntary reduction in national consumption by 15 percent between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. In addition, the possibility should be created to trigger a Union alarm in the event of far-reaching supply bottlenecks and to set binding savings targets. Compared to the Commission’s first draft, however, there are significantly more possible exceptions and the hurdles for the introduction of binding savings targets have also been increased. The latter should only be able to be enforced by the Council of Member States and not by the EU Commission.
In concrete terms, this means that a Commission proposal for binding savings targets needs the approval of a group of 15 of the 27 EU countries. In addition, these must together make up at least 65 percent of the total population of the Union. Exceptions to this rule should provide, for example, that countries such as Cyprus, Malta and Ireland should not be obliged to save gas as long as they are not directly connected to the gas interconnection system of another member state.
In other countries, efforts to store gas, an impending electricity crisis and the consumption of gas as a raw material for the production of fertilizers, for example, should be able to reduce the mandatory savings. The decision-making process for the revised plan is expected to begin at a special meeting of energy ministers on Tuesday. This also requires a qualified majority, which according to diplomats should, however, be achieved without any problems.
The deliberations of the permanent representatives of the member states have shown that the majority of the countries consider solidarity to be extremely important and want to save gas, it said. In addition to Hungary, only three other member states have recently expressed major reservations. Germany supports the emergency plans as one of the countries that are currently still heavily dependent on Russian gas supplies. Economics Minister Robert Habeck is expected to attend the special meeting on behalf of the federal government.
While countries like Germany are a long way from having their gas storage tanks sufficiently filled for the winter, Austria says it is on track. “We are on the right track to achieve our storage target,” said Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler to ORF when asked about the achievement of the 80 percent target. The Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 is not the central supply route for Austria.
Even with the complete decommissioning of Nord Stream 1, natural gas could still be stored because non-Russian gas is increasingly coming to Austria and because Russian gas is supplied via Ukraine. According to Prime Minister Petr Fiala, the natural gas storage facilities in the Czech Republic are 80 percent full. This is a record value, he explains on Twitter. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Czech Republic was almost completely dependent on Russian natural gas. According to earlier information, the EU country increased its stocks, among other things, by supplying liquefied natural gas via the Netherlands.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr linked the precarious gas situation in Germany and the German desire for European gas solidarity with the discussion about extending the service life of the three remaining German nuclear power plants. This too is a question of European solidarity. “Not only Germany is facing a severe energy crisis, but all of Europe,” Dürr told the German Press Agency. The EU even explicitly refers to nuclear energy as an alternative technology.
“I don’t see how we can explain to our European partners that we are shutting down secure energy sources for ideological reasons while France has one foot in an electricity crisis.” Dürr continued: “We must be able to supply electricity to our neighbors at all times to export. Extending the service life of German nuclear power plants would therefore be an important sign of European solidarity. We should think outside the box and be considerate of our partners.”
The Russian gas company Gazprom announced on Monday that it would reduce deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline from the current 40 percent to 20 percent of maximum capacity. Only 33 million cubic meters of gas should then flow through the most important supply pipeline to Germany every day. The reason was the repair of another turbine, it said.
Economics Minister Habeck therefore accused Russian President Putin of playing a “perfidious game”. Putin is trying to weaken the great support for Ukraine and to drive a wedge in German society. In return, he stirs up uncertainty and drives up prices. There are no technical reasons for the delivery cuts.
The most recent throttling is “no surprise now, although it is annoying that Gazprom put forward other reasons,” Habeck said on Monday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. “That they don’t even have the guts to say we’re in a trade war with you guys,” he added. Instead, “farce stories” would be spread about non-working turbines that were simply not true.
The chemical industry in Germany warned of the possible consequences if Russia permanently reduced its gas supplies via the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1. “Every kilowatt hour that flows through the pipeline is important for our industry,” said energy expert Jörg Rothermel from the Association of the Chemical Industry to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany. “The further reduction in gas deliveries to 20 percent increases the risk that we will lack gas in winter because we will have great difficulty filling our storage facilities.”
Gazprom only resumed deliveries via Nord Stream 1 last Thursday after a ten-day maintenance. Since then, the pipeline has been running at 40 percent utilization almost consistently. According to data from Nord Stream 1, this amount flowed constantly through the pipeline on Monday.
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