29/11/2022 (Agence Europe) – While the disruption of a large portion of gas supplies from Russia has raised the risk of gas shortages and power cuts in the European Union, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said, “We are on safe ground for this winter”, during a debate on the energy crisis with the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on Tuesday, 29 November. In particular, Ms Simson praised the high filling rate of the EU’s underground gas reserves (93.9%) as well as the recent gas savings. Based on data from Eurostat (the statistical office of the EU), the commissioner indicated that Member States’ gas consumption fell 15% on average during August, September, and October. However, she did not specify whether this decrease was essentially due to voluntary efforts and measures or due to the particularly high energy prices. (DG)