National governments have resisted the European Commission’s proposal to all cut their gas consumption by 15 percent. The emergency plan should provide for numerous exceptions – and no enforcement of the savings targets by the Commission.
The Kremlin continues to play cat and mouse with Europe: After it had looked these days as if the gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was serviced last week, would more or less level off towards normal, on Monday afternoon the Europeans were discharged . As of Wednesday, Gazprom will only be pumping 33 million cubic meters of gas per day west through this tube instead of using the full capacity of 160 million cubic meters. Gazprom cited inconsistencies surrounding the Siemens turbine that was routinely serviced in Canada as the reason for this. Important documents were still missing, the Russian state-owned company announced. Without them, full operation is not possible for safety reasons.
This new twist in the struggle between Europe and Russia over gas supplies makes the need to save large amounts of gas, at least this winter and probably next, all the more acute. But the plan for this, which the European Commission presented last week, has been shattered by the resistance of the national governments. Member States of the Union will no doubt have to save on gas this winter – but how and to what extent they will be left to their own devices.