In the wake of the Hungarian government’s decision to declare a national energy emergency that would include measures restricting gas flows from the country to other EU Member States, Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson issued a statement on Thursday 14 July reminding Hungary of Member States’ energy solidarity obligations.
“The Commission recalls that the EU has in place a robust legal framework for ensuring security of supply in a spirit of solidarity among Member States [...] They are obliged to help their neighbours in case of urgent need, by supplying energy for protected customers”, the Commissioner stressed.
She added: “Individual national restrictions affecting gas cross-border flows are unwarranted and can only exacerbate problems in the current gas market situation”.
The Hungarian decision comes just days before the European Commission presents a plan to prepare the EU for a total disruption of Russian gas supplies by reducing gas demand.
While the plan will only be unveiled on 20 July, a draft version repeatedly stresses the need for the EU to act in concert, in a spirit of solidarity between Member States (see EUROPE 12993/3), to ensure that gas “gets to where it is most needed”.
This message has been hammered home by the Commission for several days.
“If we show solidarity between all Member States, then we can overcome this. If we start going it alone, then it's going to be much more difficult”, said Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, responsible for the Green Deal on Thursday 14 July, just before the last day of an informal meeting of the Member States’ environment ministers.
Commissioner Simson also stressed the importance of a “unified and coordinated approach at EU level” to respond effectively to any further reduction in Russian gas supplies.
She also stressed the need to respect the “legal framework of the EU energy policy and Single Market rules”.
On this point, the declaration notes that restrictions on exports in the internal market “can only be justified on very specific grounds such as the protection of public order and public health”, and not on “economic grounds”.
Furthermore, the Commission announced that it had contacted the Hungarian authorities in order to “better understand the emergency plan and assess its implications for neighbouring Member States”.
See Kadri Simson’s statement: https://aeur.eu/f/2nq (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)