The European Commission: “Russia is blackmailing us”.
The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled its plan to reduce Europe’s gas use by 15% as it tries to strengthen the EU’s energy resilience amid tensions with key supplier Russia.
Announcing the “Save Gas for a Safe Winter” package, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said 12 member states had been hit by a partial or total cut in Russian gas supplies.
And Von der Leyen warned that the total shutdown of Russian gas was a “possible scenario”.
“Russia is blackmailing us. Russia is using energy as a weapon,” she was quoted as saying.
The package proposes a target for all member states to reduce gas demand by 15% between August 2022 and March 2023.
In this regard, member states have until September to show how they will be able to meet this objective.
In a statement on the package, the Commission said there will be measures to help EU member states meet the necessary reductions, including a “focus on replacing gas with other fuels and overall energy savings in all sectors”.
The commission also called on member states to launch public awareness campaigns “to promote the reduction of heating and cooling on a large scale”.
Russia may still decide to keep the taps closed. It stopped sending gas to several European countries and energy companies because they refused Moscow’s demands for payments in rubles – a move that would have put them in breach of European sanctions.