In terms of energy policy, the EU is going on the offensive towards Russia and wants to quickly and noticeably reduce its dependence on Russian gas and other raw materials.

"We have agreed to end dependence on Russian gas, oil and coal imports," says a coordinated draft of the "Declaration of Versailles", which the EU heads of state and government presented at their meeting at the end of this week want to say goodbye to the Paris summit.

As a first step, dependency on Russian natural gas is to be reduced by two-thirds by the end of this year.

The European Commission announced this goal in a strategy paper in preparation for the summit meeting.

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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"It's tough, damn tough, but doable," said Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans.

"We cannot rely on a supplier who is openly threatening us," said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Only on Monday evening did Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Nowak threaten to stop delivery of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

"We have the full right to make a mirror-fair decision and to issue an embargo," he said on Russian state television and only limited the threat to a limited extent: "But we haven't made this decision yet."

Nobody wins from it.”

The EU imports around 40 percent of its gas from Russia.

Germany imports more than half from Russia.

This makes the EU not only dependent on Russia.

It also exposes itself to the accusation of financing the Russian war against Ukraine with the money paid for it.

Recently, the EU paid up to 1 billion euros a day for raw materials to Russia.

Efforts to diversify care

To change that, the Commission wants to increase imports of liquid gas from countries like Qatar, the United States, Egypt and West Africa.

That alone is expected to offset a third of Russia's annual gas imports of 155 billion cubic meters.

Another 10 billion cubic meters are to come to the EU via existing pipelines from Algeria, Azerbaijan or Norway.

In addition, the Commission wants to promote the use of biomethane and hydrogen faster than previously planned.

In addition to diversifying the gas supply, Brussels is also focusing on reducing the consumption of fossil fuels.

The "Fit for 55" climate package presented last July plays a central role in this.

The climate package – which has not yet been approved by the European Parliament and EU member states – will reduce gas consumption by 30 percent by 2030, said Timmermans.

That corresponds to around 100 billion cubic meters.

Against the background of the war in Ukraine, however, it must be implemented more quickly.

"We must advance the expansion of renewable energy sources at the speed of light," demanded Timmermans.

The strategy paper makes concrete proposals in this regard.

The Commission wants to speed up the installation of solar panels on roofs.

This should reduce gas consumption by 2.5 billion cubic meters by the end of this year.

The expansion of wind farms is expected to make the largest contribution with savings of 20 billion cubic meters.

The Commission wants to speed up the approval process noticeably.

She intends to present concrete proposals for this in May.

The EU wants to save 14 billion cubic meters by the end of 2022 by increasing energy efficiency.

In addition, the comfortable temperature in houses and apartments should be reduced by 1 degree.

"Each individual can make an enormous contribution to making the EU independent of Russia," said Timmermans.

New rules for gas storage

Nuclear power and longer running times for coal-fired power plants play no role in the EU Commission's paper.

There are no taboos in the current situation, said Timmermans.

However, how they deal with coal and nuclear power is a matter for the member states to decide.

New rules for gas storage facilities are also intended to contribute to energy security in the EU.

The EU Commission wants to use statutory minimum fill levels to ensure that, unlike last summer, the storage tanks are sufficiently filled to get through the winter safely.

At the moment, the memory is still 30 percent full.

This is mainly due to the fact that the winter was mild.

The states should therefore ensure in the future that the storage tanks are 90 percent full by October.

This goes beyond the Commission's original plans and the specifications planned in Berlin (see F.AZ. of March 5).

The Commission wants to allow generous state aid for this.

The storage should be open to other countries.

This mainly applies to countries without their own storage facilities.

In addition, the states should check whether there is a risk that the Russian company Gazprom operates storage facilities in the EU.

A concrete legislative proposal should be available by April.