European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni, in Brussels, July 14, 2022 (AFP/Archives/François WALSCHAERTS)
European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni assured Saturday that the European Union was “well prepared” in the event of a total stoppage of Russian gas deliveries, thanks to storage and energy saving measures.
“We are well prepared to resist Russia’s extreme use of the gas weapon,” he told reporters at the economic forum organized by The European House – Ambrosetti in Cernobbio, on the Lake Como, Italy.
“We are not afraid of Putin’s decisions, we ask the Russians to respect the contracts, but if they don’t, we are ready to react”, he underlined.
The Russian giant Gazprom announced on Friday that the Nord Stream gas pipeline, linking Russia to northern Germany, which was to resume service this Saturday after a three-day interruption for maintenance operations, would finally be “completely” stopped until to the repair of a turbine, without specifying a deadline.
Moscow was thus reacting to the decision announced Friday by the G7 countries to target Russia’s energy windfall by agreeing to cap the price of its oil.
In addition, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that “it would be time” to put a cap on the price of gas imported by pipeline from Russia, thus supporting a measure advocated by the Italian Prime Minister. Mario Draghi.
In the European Union, “gas storage is currently at around 80%, thanks to the diversification of supplies”, even if the situation differs from one country to another, indicated Mr. Gentiloni.
Brussels “has done a lot in recent months” but “today it is possible to do more”, because “the wall of divisions which has blocked the Commission’s action in recent months has many breaches”, has congratulated the European Commissioner.
The objective is to “pursue the strategy of a united Europe which works against the invasion of Ukraine by using the economic weapon”, he explained.
“We are not taking part in war, we are not taking part in military escalation”, but “we support Ukraine” and “we have to do it now more effectively”, he insisted.
– Joint gas purchases –
“We are in favor of the principle of capping the price of gas,” French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told AFP, welcoming Ursula von der Leyen’s statement on this option.
The logo of Russian giant Gazprom at a gas station in Moscow on September 1, 2022 (AFP/Archives/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)
“But for the gas price cap to be effective, there must be joint purchases,” he noted, speaking on the sidelines of the economic forum.
The Minister also considered that a project dear to France, the “decoupling between the price of gas, fossil fuel, and the price of electricity, carbon-free energy”, should “not wait for the reform of the energy, because it will take months”.
Paris wants “decoupling to take place in the coming weeks or months (…) “it is now that we must act, it is now that we must definitively decouple the price of gas from the price of electricity. ‘electricity,’ he claimed.
Asked about a possible total cut of Russian gas, he assured that “France is well prepared”. “The gas is used as a weapon” by Russia, “this weapon, we anticipated it, it will not be a surprise”.
“Gas storage today exceeds 90% (in France). We will meet our objective of filling stocks to 100% and we have accelerated the diversification of supplies”, he argued.
© 2022 AFP
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