EU member states have agreed on an emergency plan aimed at reducing the impact of a potential complete shutdown of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe, DPA reported, citing diplomats.
The plan envisages a voluntary reduction of 15 percent in the consumption of natural gas in the member countries from August 1, 2022 to March 31 next year.
In addition, a mechanism will be set up that will trigger an EU-wide alert in the event of a large shortage and that will introduce binding savings targets.
The agreement was reached on a document whose provisions were significantly softened compared to the first draft of the text of the European Commission.
The watered-down version of the document contained various exemption clauses and the threshold for introducing binding savings targets was also raised.
