For Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, lowering the room temperature by one or two degrees was always one of the most prominent steps to reduce dependency on Russian energy supplies.

So it is hardly surprising that the EU Commission is starting right here to counteract an impending complete halt to deliveries.

In the emergency plan that the authority intends to present in the middle of next week, it calls on member states to limit the room temperature in public buildings, offices and commercial buildings to 19 degrees.

At the same time, air conditioning systems should cool the rooms down to a maximum of 25 degrees.

The FAZ has a draft of the "winter strategy".

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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In order to reduce consumption in private households, the Commission is backing a public campaign such as that already initiated by the federal government.

The public sector has a role model function, but also plays an important role given that it accounts for 30 percent of energy consumption.

The reason why the EU Commission does not set specifications for the room temperature in private households is that they enjoy special protection in the event of gas bottlenecks under the applicable EU regulations.

However, this should not prevent the states from taking steps to reduce consumption for electricity generation as a whole, according to the emergency plan.

Together, households, the public sector and industry could save 13 billion cubic meters of gas.

Reduction of gas consumption as a central element

The target room temperature of 19 degrees in offices and authorities is in square brackets in the main document, so it is subject to change.

So it can still change when the winter strategy is officially presented.

For the Commission, the reduction in gas consumption is the central instrument for absorbing a gas supply freeze.

It is crucial to reduce consumption in a coordinated manner and at an early stage, i.e. right now, she emphasizes.

Otherwise the EU would only have to reduce energy consumption all the more “drastically” later on.

In Germany, the Bundestag created facts for itself.

Offices are only heated to 20 instead of 22 degrees in winter.

If the air conditioning cools, as it does now in summer, then only to 26 to 28 degrees instead of 24 to 26 degrees.

The conference rooms are also only heated to 20 instead of 22 degrees in winter.

In the summer, the air conditioning is supposed to cool a little more there: to 24 to 26 degrees.

This was decided by the Council of Elders at the beginning of July.

They would be "implemented immediately," it said.

A number of state governments have decided to make similar adjustments to their buildings.

A Germany-wide new regulation for offices and public buildings is being discussed within the federal government.

The workplace ordinance currently stipulates that it must be at least 20 degrees in the room for light activities while sitting.

Where work is done standing

It also depends on the weather

The Commission puts the gas gap, which cannot be filled by other suppliers, at 20 billion cubic meters in the event of a complete halt to deliveries this month.

This corresponds to almost 15 percent of the gas purchased from Russia so far this year.

If deliveries are stopped in July, the EU will also miss its target of filling 80 percent of the gas storage tanks by the beginning of November.

At best, 65 to 71 percent are possible.

In normal weather, the EU could get through the winter.

But it will then be very difficult to fill the storage tanks sufficiently again next summer.

According to the Commission, the supply of private households is not at risk, as their share of consumption is less than 37 percent.

The situation is different when it comes to supplying industry, especially in particularly gas-intensive sectors such as the chemical industry.

The Commission is therefore promoting the use of market-based instruments to set incentives for reducing gas consumption in industry.

In particular, she highlights auctions and public tenders that reward companies for reducing consumption.

Postponement of the nuclear phase-out?

In addition to reducing gas consumption, the Commission also advocates the use of alternative fuels, even if this requires subsidies and temporarily runs counter to the EU's environmental protection and climate goals.

The Commission believes that nuclear power can also play an important role.

"Where possible, postpone the shutdown of nuclear power plants or switch to nuclear power" is explicitly mentioned as a solution in the annex to the main document.

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton was the last to insist on this within the Commission.

He had also recently asked the federal government to postpone the nuclear phase-out.

The Commission's deliberations met with little enthusiasm in the European Parliament.

"The Commission is reaching its limits, the proposals seem discouraged, even desperate," said Michael Bloss, MEP for the Greens.

The EU runs the risk of having 27 different packages if the EU Commission does not bring energy policy together better.

In addition, there is no gas heating ban.

MEP Markus Ferber (CSU) spoke of a "sequence of housewife tips".

There is no need for a Commission communication to come to the conclusion that the heating can be turned down and that other energy sources should be used.