EU states urge lower targetsfor gas cuts

European governments are attempting to water down Brussels’ plans to push the blocinto cutting gas demand to help weather a shortage of Russian supplies thiswinter. Diplomats from the 27 EU member states have been locked in negotiations since the European Commission proposed measures last week requiring countries to cut gas use by 15 per cent from next month. The plan prompted bickering over the size of the target and whether Brussels had the power to makeit binding. It needs to be approved bymember states at ameetingof energy minister thisweek. In a draft proposal seen by the Financial Times, EU countries have suggested that while a voluntary target could be standardised across the bloc, compulsory targets should take into account each state’s dependency on Russian gas as well as the amount they have managed to funnelinto storage. The reduction should also be smaller if a member state has extra gas it could supply to othersin the EU, either vialiquefied natural gas shipments or pipelines. Certain industries that are seen as critical to the single market should also be exempt,according to the draft. “Member states should be free to choose the appropriate measures to reach the demand reduction,” the draft read. Brussels has been agonising over how to prepare itself for a potential cut in energy supply come winter, as Moscow weaponises gas deliveries in retaliation for European support for Kyiv in its war againstRussia. BeforeMoscow’sinvasion, the EUwas reliant on Russia for about 40 per cent, or 155bn cubic metres, of its gas supply but has since vowed to wean itself off Russian gas by2027. Lastweek, the European Commission suggested that member states should aim to cut gas by 15 per cent over the next eight months, compared with the average for the same period between 2017and2021. The voluntary reduction targetwould be made mandatory if the commission deemed the energy crisis to have become sufficiently serious or if three member states requested thatit change. But EU governments — particularly from southernEuropean states that typically have been less reliant on Russia — complained that the commission had over-reached its powers and that a 15 per cent targetwas too high. According to the draftalternative proposal, atleast fivemember stateswould have to request a so-called union alert state that would prompt targets to become binding, while a majority of countries would have to approve the demand. The proposal also recommends the time for countries to present “national emergency” plans to the commission should be extended from September to the endofOctober. One EU diplomat described the compromise plan as “the mother of all optouts”, given the number of exemptions thatmember states could claim. The plan will be discussed at another meeting of EU ambassadors today beforeitis put to an emergencymeeting of energyministers tomorrow.