EU struggles with how to cut off reliance on Russian gas
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations struggled Monday to find common ground on how to wean the bloc off its reliance on Russian natural gas, seeking to appease wary consumers at home while upholding unity as Moscow turns down the tap.
On the eve of an emergency meeting to discuss plans to cut gas use by 15% over the coming months, envoys were still brokering a possible compromise that should keep all 27 nations in line by Tuesday night.
“This a still a work in progress,” said a senior diplomat who asked not to be identified because the talks were still ongoing.
The bloc is bracing for a possible full Russian cutoff of natural gas supplies that could add a big chill to the upcoming winter, leaving nations like economic juggernaut Germany especially exposed. Some other countries, with little dependence on Russian gas, do not want to force such a major cut on their people.
Russia has cut off or reduced gas to a dozen EU countries and on Monday said it will slash flows this week through a major pipeline to Germany by another half, to 20% of capacity. The Nord Stream 1 pipeline reductions further endanger goals to fill storage for winter as envoys haggled over EU plans.
The diplomat said ambassadors had been working nonstop on the divisive issue and had sought to clip the powers of the executive European Commission, which under its plan, could sidestep member countries to impose such reductions.
“First and utmost" was the need to put members in charge of deciding when such cuts should become mandatory, the diplomat said, in case Russian President Vladimir Putin weaponizes gas exports to pressure the bloc into reducing its sanctions over the war in Ukraine or push other political aims.
Yielding some of their powers over energy policy to Brussels has long been anathema in...
