​As EU countries face a sharp cut in Russian gas supplies, a deal agreed by 27 countries in late July to voluntarily cut consumption comes into force on Tuesday, after being published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Monday.

The text stipulates that each member state will “do its best” to reduce gas consumption by at least 15% between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023 compared to the average of the last five years valid for the same period . . This is a voluntary measure and the state must implement it.

However, in the event of a “risk of a serious deficit”, the European Council, the body representing the member states, can, on a proposal from the Commission, declare a state of alarm. This mechanism will make the 15% discount “mandatory”. But even then, this goal will be adapted to the realities of each state, in particular to the possibility of exporting saved volumes of gas to countries that need it, and therefore involves a number of concessions, writes AFP.

To ensure accurate monitoring, each state will have to “update its national emergency plan (…) by October 31, 2022.”

Cutting consumption in Europe now should help states ramp up gas reserves before winter.

This agreement was reached at an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers on July 26.

Only one country, Hungary, opposed the measure, which it called “unjustified, unnecessary, impractical and harmful”, but unanimity was not required and the Hungarian government could not prevent its passage.

Europeans are trying to abandon Russian gas, which until last year accounted for about 40% of gas imports from the EU.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who accused Moscow of using gas “as a weapon”, asked member states to “prepare for the worst”, that is, to stop supplying gas to Russia.

Russian energy giant Gazprom recently accused EU sanctions against Moscow of blocking the return of a Siemens turbine sent to Canada for maintenance and essential for the smooth operation of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.

The commission denied this because the gas sector and Gazprom, as well as its bank, are not subject to Western sanctions. A third of European purchases of Russian gas are made by Nord Stream 1, the flow of which has sharply decreased over the past two months.

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