The energy ministers of the EU member states held an emergency meeting in the Belgian capital on Monday to discuss the impact of the situation in Russia and Ukraine on energy supplies to the EU, in particular, the question of how to respond to a possible suspension of Russian natural gas supplies to the EU countries .
EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said at a press conference following the meeting that Gazprom had already suspended gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, and therefore any EU member state could be the next state to experience a power cut.
K. Simson said that opening a special account with Gazprombank and paying in rubles for Russian gas is a violation of EU sanctions against Russia. Many European energy companies will make their next payments to the Russian Federation in mid-May. The EU will instruct companies on how to comply with the current sanctions.
The European Commissioner stressed that at present there is no immediate risk to the security of gas supplies to Europe, Poland and Bulgaria are supplied via alternative routes via Greece and Germany. In addition, a gas pipeline between Poland and Lithuania was launched on Sunday.
In order to cope with possible unforeseen circumstances, the politician indicated that the urgent task is to work in three areas: firstly, improving the emergency gas supply plan in the light of recent events, secondly, securing gas reserves until the start of the next heating season, in thirdly, diversification of supplies through the EU energy platform.
Recall that on March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the rules for trading gas with unfriendly countries and regions for rubles. On April 27, Gazprom suspended gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland due to non-payment of supplies under the new scheme in rubles.
The average price of electricity for the population in the European Union in the second half of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, increased by 11% - up to 23.7 euros per 100 kWh (taking into account all taxes and fees). This is evidenced by Eurostat data.
The largest price increase occurred in Estonia (+50%), Sweden (+49%) and Cyprus (+36%). Prices fell only in two member countries of the European Union - Slovakia (-6%) and Hungary (-0.1%).
