By Manon Eleonora Lagana
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised the issue of the EU’s dependencies on Russia. For this reason, a European Gas Policy will be introduced by next month. REPOWER represents a plan to make a more affordable, secure and sustainable energy in Europe, anticipating the future Gas Policy key points.
On March 8th, the European Commission presented REPOWER, a plan to make Europe more independent from Russian gas. The reason for this was stated by the Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson: “Russia's invasion of Ukraine has aggravated the security of supply situation and driven energy prices to unprecedented levels”. With REPOWER, the European Commission proposes to diversify the gas supplies and wants to reduce fossil fuels at once. The acceleration of the “green transition” would not only reduce the EU’s dependence on Russia, but also significantly limit emissions before 2030 – which would be in line with the Green Deal and UN Agenda 2030 goals.
With REPOWER, the European Commission proposes to diversify the gas supplies and wants to reduce fossil fuels at once.
In detail, REPOWER includes several measures to respond to rising energy prices and new actions to ramp up the production of green energy. For one , REPOWER addresses the reduction of energy prices to protect consumers and the economy: The plan aims to set energy retail prices for households and micro-enterprises, so that consumers and small corporations will not be left behind.
Secondly, the European Commission will allocate new EU State Aid rules to provide short-term support to companies affected by high energy prices and help reduce their exposure to energy price volatility in the medium to long term.
Moreover, gas storages are starting to be filled for the winter as a preparation for the upcoming cold season. To address the question of Gas, the European Commission will put forward a legislative proposal to regulate the European Gas Policy by April 2022. The European Gas Policy priorities include to make smart use of the existing gas storage infrastructure. This seeks to ensure that the storage infrastructures across Europe would be filled up at least 90% of their capacity by the first of October. Surely, the plan to introduce a new European Policy for the gas supplies and storage is really ambitious. However, this brand-new European policy will be one of the most relevant, considering how the current geopolitical situation requires to adopt measures in this regard.
Surely, the plan to introduce a new European Policy for the gas supplies and storage is really ambitious. However, this brand-new European policy will be one of the most relevant, considering how the current geopolitical situation requires to adopt measures in this regard.
It is also important to note that in addition to REPOWER, another effort towards the independence of Russia's gas resources has been made. On March 25th, the United States and European Union signed a joint statement in which each party was committed to reducing Europe's dependency on Russian energy. In this statement, the parties share the objective to address the energy security emergency, as well as to ensure energy supply for the EU and Ukraine.
While the European Commission clearly made an effort with REPOWER, its effectiveness will only be clear in the future.
While the European Commission clearly made an effort with REPOWER, its effectiveness will only be clear in the future.
But now, over to you: Do you think that it is possible to diversify the gas supplies? And what do you think of the brand-new European Gas Policy? Will it really help accelerate the clean energy transition?
Let us know your opinions or thoughts in the comments below or reach out to us!
Manon Eleonora: Manon Eleonora is a PhD student in Information Technology Law and Privacy Law at the University of Valencia (Spain). Previously, she earned a master’s degree in International Law and European Union at the University of Valencia and obtained a master’s degree in Law and the “Iuris Doctor” qualification at the University of Pisa (Italy). As part of the BridgeEurope blog team her goal is to update on European policies, legislations, or relevant facts involving the European institutions. Her blog articles will be structured in order to start a discussion with her audience, who will be invited to comment on the post.
BridgeEurope Blog serves as a platform for reflection and discussion on current topics. The opinions expressed in the blog represent the view of the authors solely and not the view of BridgeEurope.