Need for swift EU response to the economic Armageddon triggered by the war in Ukraine – EU Commission answer

Brussels, 29 August 2022

EN
E-001877/2022
Answer given by Ms Simson
on behalf of the European Commission
(29.8.2022)

As part of REPowerEU¹ and following a European Council request in May 2022 to develop an EU coordinated demand reduction plan, the Commission adopted a ‘Save gas for a safe winter’ package on 20 July 2022 including a gas demand reduction plan², on which the Council had a political agreement on 26 July 2022.

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is expected to play a key role in the implementation of REPowerEU and the response to the socio-economic hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To this end REPowerEU invites Member States to consider mobilising the remaining EUR 225 billion of loans under the RRF to pursue REPowerEU objectives. In parallel, the Commission also proposed targeted amendments to the RRF regulation to make additional grant resources available through voluntary transfers from other EU funds and the sale of ETS³ allowances currently held in the Market Stability Reserve. All these funds are foreseen to be used for diversifying the EU´s energy sources and supply routes to phase out Russian fossil fuels as soon as possible.

In addition, the ‘Save gas for a safe winter’ package aims to reduce gas consumption as of 1 August 2022 before a full Russian disruption happens, to avoid getting to an emergency where gas demand is not matched with supply and because acting now will be less costly than acting later. The plan provides guidance to Member States as to how to reduce gas consumption through a number of measures, such as fuel switching and market-based gas reduction measures. In case curtailment is still needed, the plan includes guidance on prioritisation of non-protected customers, minimising socio-economic impact of demand reduction on key sectors and cross-border value chains.

1 Communication REPowerEU Plan COM(2022)230 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2022%3A230%3AFIN&qid=1653033742483
2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022DC0360&qid=1658479881117
3 Emissions trading system