In a document for national delegations published ahead of the EU Council’s Working Party on Energy on 19 March, the Polish Presidency proposes greater flexibility in meeting gas reservoir filling targets, by removing the 1 November deadline.
On 5 March (see EUROPE 13593/11), the European Commission presented an extension of the regulation on gas storage, amended in 2022, to guarantee the EU’s security of gas supply, by ensuring that the target of 90% of reservoirs being filled is reached by 1 November of that year.
However, the Member States had asked the Commission to be more flexible, particularly with regard to the intermediate filling targets (1 February, 1 May, 1 July and 1 September), in order to avoid distortions and speculation on the market as each deadline approached.
The Commission mentioned that the interim targets were only “indicative”, but left the 1 November deadline untouched.
The Polish Presidency of the EU Council is proposing to go further by abolishing this date and replacing it with a filling target “at any time between 1 October and 1 December”.
It also lightens the Commission’s initial proposal concerning measures against Member States that “deviate” from the required filling trajectory.
At the EU ‘Energy’ Council on 17 March (see other news), a number of countries, including Greece and Italy, once again stressed the need for flexibility.
To see the Polish Presidency’s document: https://aeur.eu/f/fz3 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)