BRUSSELS — The
EU agreed to reduce gas consumption to break
its dependence on Russia on Tuesday, as missile strikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea
coast cast doubt on a grain export deal.
اضافة اعلان
The EU gas use cut, approved by energy ministers in
Brussels, was hailed as an effective response to Russia’s manipulation of its
energy wealth as an economic weapon.
The plan nominally commits EU countries to reduce
their gas use by 15 percent during the winter, although exceptions were carved
out for some countries and Hungary rejected the deal as “useless”.
“We have made a huge step towards securing gas
supplies for our citizens and economies for the upcoming winter,” said
Czech industry minister Jozef Sikela, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
“I know the decision was not easy, but I think at
the end, everybody understands that this sacrifice is necessary,” he added.
Hungary was the only country to oppose the plan,
which passed on a majority vote, further isolating Budapest as the only member
state reluctant to go further against Russia.
“This is an unjustifiable, useless, unenforceable,
and harmful proposal that completely ignores national interests,” said
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
The deal “serves purely communication purposes, and
aims to save the credibility of some Western European politicians”, he added.
German ‘mistake’
Germany, the EU’s economic
powerhouse, is hugely dependent on Russian gas. Berlin takes a major share of
the 40 percent of EU gas imports that came from Russia last year.
“It is true that Germany, with its dependence on
Russian gas, has made a strategic mistake but our government is working ... to
correct this,” German Economy Minister
Robert Habeck said.
The plan asks member states to voluntarily reduce
gas use by 15 percent — based on a five-year average for the months in question
— starting next month and over the subsequent winter through March.
The target will be adapted to the situation of each
country, taking into account their level of stocks and whether or not they have
pipelines to share gas.
Exceptions were given for island states like
Ireland, Cyprus, or
Malta and to Spain or Portugal, which have limited links to
the interconnected gas supply grid.
Baltic countries will be exempted if their
electricity connections with Russia’s grid were to be cut.
In the final proposal, EU member countries also
rewrote an earlier European Commission plan to give Brussels — rather than the
member states — the power to impose gas use cuts in an emergency.
The regulation now foresees the possibility to
trigger a “Union alert” that would make the target mandatory, but the decision
would lie with member states, a statement said.
The deal landed a day after Gazprom said it is
cutting daily gas deliveries intended for Europe to about 20 percent of
capacity from Wednesday.
Gazprom claimed technical reasons for choking off
supply, but EU Energy Commissioner
Kadri Simson dismissed this claim.
“This is a politically motivated step and we have to
be ready for that and exactly for that reason the pre-emptive reduction of our
gas demand is a wise strategy,” she said.
The extent of Russia’s split with the West over
Ukraine was also underlined by Moscow’s announcement that it would quit the
International Space Station after 2024.
Until now space exploration was one of the few areas
where cooperation between Russia, the US, and its allies had not been wrecked
by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.
The decision to leave the ISS program “has been
made”, Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov told Putin.
Strikes near Odessa
Meanwhile, fighting
continued in Ukraine. Kyiv said
Russian forces launched multiple missile
strikes at targets on the Black Sea coast near the southern port city of Odessa
and in Mykolaiv.
The attacks come days after Russian strikes hit
Odessa, calling into question a breakthrough deal to resume exports of grain
from Ukraine, that have been disrupted by Moscow’s invasion.
Rescuers were working on the ground near Odessa where
“residential buildings” near the coast were hit in the strikes, Ukraine’s
southern military command said on Facebook.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
