While the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a provisional interinstitutional Agreement on the extension and revision of the Gas Storage Regulation on the evening of Tuesday 24 June (see EUROPE 13652/14), the two institutions will each hold a confirmation vote this week, enabling the new provisions to apply starting the winter of 2025-2026.
The Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU had in fact hoped to reach an agreement before the end of its term on 30 June so that the new flexibilities could come into force quickly.
The European Parliament will hold a vote in its Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee on Thursday 26 June, followed by a plenary vote in July. The Council of the EU is due to validate the text at the level of the Member States’ ambassadors (Coreper) on Friday 27 June.
The regulation, amended in 2022, set a target of 90% of EU gas tanks filled by the annual deadline of 1 November.
From now on, the new provisions, which will apply until the end of 2027, will enable this target to be achieved each year over a period between 1 October and 1 December.
In addition, as initially requested by the EU Council, Member States will be authorised to deviate by 10 percentage points from this 90% target “in the case of difficult conditions”. The European Commission will then be able to adopt a delegated act allowing an additional 5% deviation in the event of persistent unfavourable conditions.
The introduction of these flexibilities will therefore ensure that the figure does not fall below 75%, as requested by Parliament (see EUROPE 13636/12).
The text also makes a cautious reference, in a recital, to the new proposal for a REPowerEU regulation to ban Russian fossil fuels (see EUROPE 13661/5), without pre-empting the outcome of negotiations on this text. However, it does note that “the Union should progress quickly towards full independence from Russian fossil fuels”.
To see the provisional agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/hkb (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)