European Union states have been told to cut their gas use by 15 per cent as fears increase that Russia could cut all supplies to the bloc for the winter.
While the initial cuts would be voluntary, the Commission also asked for the power to impose mandatory reductions across the bloc in the event of an EU-wide alert “when there is a substantial risk of a severe gas shortage or an exceptionally high demand of gas occurs, which results in a significant deterioration of the gas supply situation”.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of “blackmailing us. Russia is using energy as a weapon. And therefore, in any event, whether it’s a partial major cutoff of Russian gas or total cutoff of Russian gas, Europe needs to be ready”, she said on Wednesday.
Many European states rely on Russia for a large percentage of their gas.
