Fvoluntary didn’t work. Now Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, wants to force EU member states to help each other in an acute energy crisis. The obligation to provide mutual assistance to a previously defined extent is to become mandatory in the future if two or more countries experience acute gas supply problems.
The obligation to provide help to a previously defined extent is part of a legislative package that von der Leyen presented on Tuesday together with Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson and Financial Markets Commissioner Mairead McGuinness. The bundle of laws envisages a whole range of measures with which the EU Commission wants to prevent gas prices in Europe from again reaching such high levels as last summer.
At that time, the EU countries had rushed to fill their storage tanks and had outbid each other in the battle for the scarce liquid gas, thus driving up prices. Better coordination when filling the storage facilities, more gas bought together and a price cap for the gas futures market should help to avoid such price peaks in the future.
Compulsory solidarity in the event of gas shortages is also part of the package, although the measure is primarily about securing supplies and not about the high prices. However, the duty of solidarity would be in the interest of the federal government. Germany has been trying for a long time to oblige other EU countries to help in the event of a gas emergency, but it is biting on granite. EU rules stipulate that EU countries support each other in the event of supply crises.
The so-called SOS Regulation, the abbreviation for Security-Of-Supply, obliges EU countries to conclude bilateral solidarity agreements with one another, in which they promise each other help in an emergency. In the event of an extreme gas shortage, the states should support each other with gas deliveries so that particularly protected gas customers such as private households, hospitals and other social institutions can continue to be supplied with gas and heat.
But this safety net has big holes. The 27 EU member states have hardly concluded any agreements with each other so far, although the SOS regulation has been in force since December 2018. So far, the EU Commission has only counted six of them, but considers 40 agreements to be necessary.
Such agreements define how the aid can look like, the conditions under which gas can be supplied in an emergency, or that transit rights are guaranteed in the event of a gas shortage and that appropriate technical precautions are taken. The Commission now wants to prescribe all of this with a standard agreement. It should apply to all cases in which two countries have not concluded an SOS agreement with each other.
“Since not all member states have concluded agreements on mutual solidarity, the Commission is proposing arrangements that should apply directly if such agreements do not exist,” says a draft of the proposed law.
Desperately looking for alternative sources
The agreement would take effect in the event of an EU emergency. The EU can proclaim this if two member states in which the gas supply is at risk ask Brussels to do so. “We are still a long way from that at the moment,” said a senior Commission official. “Although 12 member states are no longer getting gas from Russia, they have all the alternative sources they are turning to right now.”
In two further legislative proposals, the authority wants to formulate exactly what mutual support will look like in an emergency, what quantities will be supplied at what price or how the gas will be allocated. They should follow at a later date. The member states must first agree to the proposal.
It is unclear if all national capitals are behind the proposal. That could already be seen on Thursday: Then the 27 EU heads of state and government will meet in Brussels and will negotiate von der Leyen’s proposals. The main issue will be whether all states support the projects in principle. Negotiations will continue next Tuesday: the 27 ministers responsible for energy issues will then discuss the technical details at a meeting in Luxembourg.
With the duty of solidarity, von der Leyen Germany is fulfilling a wish. Although the Federal Republic of Germany was a pioneer in negotiating the SOS agreement, it only has corresponding agreements with Denmark and Austria to date. However, there are still no corresponding agreements with the Netherlands and Belgium, for example, which deliver a lot of gas to Germany from their ports and liquid gas terminals. The Netherlands have only publicly promised to support Germany in the event of a gas bottleneck.
The federal government urgently wants to conclude further agreements in the energy crisis, one with the Czech Republic should be negotiated by December. From Berlin’s point of view, however, many neighbors are blocking: “In contrast, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland are evading the constructive negotiations and conclusion of bilateral solidarity agreements with us,” said a report by the responsible Bundestag committee at the beginning of September.
There hasn’t been any progress since then. “The BMWK is currently negotiating with other countries. I can’t tell you any details or results yet,” a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs told WELT last week.
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