“Energy saving”: EU warns of gas crisis in winter

Added to this is Donald Trump’s threat to stop the export of US diesel to Europe. Brussels is taking this so seriously that it has already begun negotiations with Washington to change the president’s mind. A gloomy omen, after all, Europe – especially due to the stop of gas exports from Russia – more dependent than ever on liquefied gas deliveries from the USA.

Europe’s gas storage facilities are correspondingly poorly filled before the start of the heating season. Since the recent gas crisis, the EU has actually required gas storage facilities to be filled to 90 percent in all member states. But most people are far from that. At 68 percent, Austria is still relatively well positioned, Germany, for example, is significantly lower.

The Energy Commissioner still tries to reassure people that the situation is challenging, but at least there are “no acute risks to security of supply”. Nevertheless, warning calls from politicians are also being raised in individual EU states. Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder, as well as the German Greens, are facing one “Imminent shortage situation” warned and called for the federal government to intervene. The Netherlands, in turn, is defying EU regulations and refusing to fill its gas storage facilities to 90 percent. This is currently particularly expensive and therefore pointless, says the government there.

EU demands: reduce gas and electricity consumption

But gas is unlikely to become cheaper in the coming winter months, so Jorgensen is calling on member states to take other measures. “Saving energy” is the motto. “Given limited global supply and high price volatility, reducing demand can be an effective means of containing prices,” the EU Commissioner writes in his letter: measures to reduce gas and electricity demand should be taken “for as long as necessary”.

Jorgensen makes it clear and concrete what this means: “Limiting temperatures in public buildings, eliminating outdoor heating and switching off unnecessary public lighting at night could help reduce energy demand and reduce pressure on gas supplies.”

Slow down on highways

To support this, the Commissioner has invited a guest to the ministerial meeting: Fatih Birol, head of the United Nations International Energy Agency (IEA), should also speak. The UN Energy Agency already has a whole catalog of far-reaching measures ready to reduce energy consumption. They range from the increased reintroduction of home office – similar to during the pandemic – until the maximum speed on motorways is reduced by at least 10 km/h.

Price records particularly affect the poorest – with political consequences

For Jorgensen, however, it is not just about the economic, but also about the social consequences of a new energy crisis – and thus also the consequences for politics. Record prices next winter would inevitably hit the most vulnerable in European societies, he told the British „Financial Times“: “In this debate, we all too often forget that ordinary people cannot pay their bills.”

Millions of EU citizens cannot afford heating

Millions of citizens in Europe could again be faced with the choice at the end of the month this winter: freezing or starving because they cannot pay their bills. This is “a reality for almost 50 million people in Europe”. However, countries should also be very careful with price caps and energy subsidies so as not to increase consumption again.

Tailwind for the populists

Nevertheless, he gives the motto for Brussels and for the EU countries: “We have to act, you have to act.” Because record prices for energy and the plight of many citizens would give political tailwind, especially to the populists. So the centrist democratic parties would have to “take care of the challenges that citizens actually have.”