Europees Parlement stemt in met maatregelen om 'gas-crisis' te voorkomen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament by a whopping majority on Tuesday (21 September) backed measures designed to mitigate the impact of any future Russia-Ukraine-type gas cut-offs.

The draft gas law was adopted by 601 votes against 27 and is to be rubber-stamped by EU countries in October.

The bill foresees that by the end of 2014 member states will have to guarantee at least 30 days' worth of supplies to households under normal conditions and seven days' worth if winter temperatures fall to extreme lows.

In the run-up to the deadline EU countries will by 2013 have to build new inter-connection infrastructure to make gas-sharing possible. The European Commission has already put aside €1.4 billion of spare cash in the current budgetary period to help pay for changes, such as the installation of reverse-flow technology on pipelines.

The commission is to play a central role in any future crisis. The EU executive can on the request of one or more member states declare a "Union Emergency" triggering its role in co-ordinating a joint response by EU countries. Individual member states will be legally obliged to sell extra gas to crisis-struck neighbours, but will be able to hold back 20-percent-worth of national consumption in their own reserves.

"The market and its inter-connections are the first and best defence against potential future crises," Spanish centre-right MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras, who shepherded the legislation through parliament, said in a press release.

"Every winter reminds us of Europe's dependency on gas supply on Russia, Ukraine and others," Romanian Liberal MEP Adina Valean said. "Security of energy supply has a different meaning when you are Romanian, Dutch, or Finnish. Our various geopolitical situations require a European approach."

Romania currently depends on Russia for over 20 percent of its gas supply, the Netherlands for less than 10 percent and Finland for 100 percent. Austria, the Baltic countries, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia depend on Russia for 50 percent of more of gas imports.

Bulgaria and Slovakia were among the worst hit by the 13-day-long 2008/2009 Russia-Ukraine gas crunch. City authorities in Sofia had to dim street lamps. Hospital services and industrial output also had to be cut back in both countries, costing and estimated €350 million a day in mostly unrecoverable losses.

Russian gas supplies to Lithuania and Poland again dipped in June this year during a price dispute between Minsk and Moscow, on the northern branch of Russia's transit network.

The EU is currently working on several supply diversification projects.

The Russia-Germany Nord Stream gas pipeline, which is to start operations in 2011, will reduce the risk of cut-offs based on Russian disputes with Belarus and Ukraine. But the Baltic countries and Poland, all former Soviet vassals, fear it will help Russia to use gas as a political weapon against them.

The Nabucco project to bring in gas directly from the Caspian Sea area is not expected to take off before 2015.