EU energy ministers reached a joint agreement in Brussels today to ration gas use, as fear builds that Russia could halt all gas supplies to Europe in the coming months.
Under today’s common energy-savings plan, all member states will strive to reduce gas consumption from August through to the end March by 15% – a target set by European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.
In the event of a total shutdown of Russian gas – a scenario VDL has described as “likely” – the deal states that this 15% reduction figure will become mandatory for all member states.
Although there is deep division among members over the plan, the Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, declared following today’s high-stakes talks: “This was not a Mission Impossible!”. The enthusiastic statement from the Czech Republic suggested early tensions over reaching agreement between all member states have been resolved. But does that bear reality?
