The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, announced this Wednesday before the European Parliament that her executive will present a European emergency plan this month to avoid a possible total cut off of Russian gas supply.
“We need to prepare for more gas supply disruptions, including a complete cut off from Russia. Currently, in total, 12 Member States are directly affected by partial or total reductions in gas supply. It’s obvious: [o Presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin continues to use energy as a weapon,” he said, at a debate in the Strasbourg hemicycle on the Czech six-monthly presidency of the EU Council, which began on July 1.
Von der Leyen then announced that “that is why the Commission is working on a European emergency plan”, which it will present “in mid-July”.
Member States already have their national emergency plans. This is good, but we need European coordination and common action. We need to make sure that in the event of a total rupture, the gas flows to where it is needed most. We must guarantee European solidarity. And we have to protect the single market as well as industry supply chains,” he said.
The president of the community executive stressed that the 27 cannot forget “the bitter lesson” learned at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, commenting that “selfishness and protectionism only lead to disunity and fragmentation” .
“As always, we hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. We have a lot of work ahead of us. But, as in recent weeks, unity will bring success,” she said.
Still on energy policy, the president of the Commission pointed out that “some say that, in the new security environment after Russia’s aggression, it is necessary to slow down the green transition”, but argued that “the opposite is true“.
“If we all do nothing but compete with limited fossil fuels, prices will skyrocket even higher and fill Putin’s war chest. The best, cleanest and safest way to get out of our dependency is renewable energies. Therefore, the new security environment is the best argument to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies. Renewable energies come from home. They give us independence from Russian fossil fuels. They are more profitable. And they are cleaner.
For his part, the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, when presenting Prague’s priorities for the second half of the year, also highlighted energy security, and indicated that “the path that the Czech Presidency wants to follow is mainly to work on European projects. common goods” that help the bloc to free itself from its dependence on Russia, in what he cataloged as “de-Russification” of the energy supply.
“We are ready to work on the coordination of the stocks of gas before next winter and promote voluntary joint purchasing, following the model that proved effective during the Covid-19 crisis. We must always bear in mind that we may find ourselves in a situation where solidarity between member states is more necessary than ever,” he said.
Fiala defended, however, that, for the EU to become independent from Russia, it is necessary to “take advantage of all the opportunities that geographical conditions allow”, so a single solution should not be imposed for the 27.
“Due to the size of the Union and the number of Member States, there is no single solution. Each Member State must be able to choose the energy mix that best suits its own conditions and that allows it to both meet its climate goals and free itself from Russian energy supply”, he declared.
The war in Ukraine, caused by the Russian invasion of the country at the end of last February, aggravated the situation of energy crisis in which the EU already found itself.
Geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine have affected the European energy market, as the EU imports 90% of the gas it consumeswith Russia accounting for around 45% of these imports, at varying levels between Member States.
In Portugal, Russian gas represented, in 2021, less than 10% of the total imported.
At the last summit of EU leaders, held on June 23 and 24 in Brussels, the President of the Government, António Costa, also defended that the European Union should arrive in the autumn “with a different energy situation”, given its dependence on Russia, still admitting “global risks” in gas supply, despite low dependence on Portugal.
“It is essential that we reach the autumn with a different situation, because at that time energy consumption will increase, especially in the coldest countries, which are also the most dependent on energy supplies from Russia,” said the head of government, speaking at a press release conference at the end of the European Council.
Brussels approves Iberian gas ceiling until May 2023. The impact in Portugal will be 2,100 million
Source: Observadora
