European Union member states reached an agreement Tuesday on how to cut gas consumption by 15 percent and reduce their dependence on Russian supplies. Russia’s state-run giant Gazprom is set to cut supplies to Europe from Wednesday, posing a threat to economies such as Germany that depend on Russian gas for energy and chemical industries.
On the other hand, the 27 European Union countries that imposed economic sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine met to agree on a way they could cut gas consumption and share the burden of the shortage.
Luxembourg’s Energy Minister, Claude Turmes, tweeted that Hungary is the only EU country to vote against the plan, which he described as “the best response to (President Vladimir) Putin’s gas-related blackmail”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Gazprom’s announcement was a “blackmail” against Europe, and that Moscow was waging a gas war against Europe.
Earlier this month, Europe’s largest pipeline in Russia was completely shut down due to a 10-day maintenance hiatus, sparking fears in Europe that the energy supplies may never be resumed. The European Union also accused Moscow of using energy as a weapon. Europe got 40% of its gas needs from Russia last year.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President, said earlier that the possibility of Russia cutting off all gas supplies to the European Union was a “possible scenario“.
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