Emergency plans in place for EU fuel rationing, says von der Leyen

The European Union has drawn up emergency plans to prioritise where energy flows are directed in case of shortages, as Russia begins cutting gas supplies into the bloc, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said.

The German government has appealed to its population to conserve energy, while Italy is reportedly considering a state of alert after Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom slashed supplies.

“If we would decrease the heating in Europe by two degrees, or the cooling, less air conditioning, this would compensate the whole delivery of Nord Stream 1,” Dr von der Leyen told The Irish Times in an interview with a group of journalists, referring to the major gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany.

“We have emergency plans in place that have the whole width of necessary steps, from the efficiency element, to energy savings, to prioritising the needs.”

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The EU is racing to refill its gas storage facilities from international suppliers to reach a goal of 80 per cent by winter, last week signing a deal with Israel and Egypt to procure exports. But it will be a battle to increase the current level of 43 per cent to the target of 80 per cent by winter.

“It’s a lot of work still. And the circumstances are serious,” Dr von der Leyen said.

Some governments are reaching for the most polluting fossil fuels to plug the gap, with Germany planning to restart coal-fired power plants, imperilling the EU’s targets to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.

“We really have to make sure that we use this crisis to move forward to the future-proof energies, and not to have a backsliding in the dirty fossil fuels,” Dr von der Leyen said.

Some Irish farming groups have questioned whether now is the right time to reduce the size of the cattle herd in order to bring down climate change-causing methane emissions, due to the worrying reduction in global food supplies due to the invasion of major agricultural producer Ukraine.

Dr von der Leyen said research indicated ways to reduce methane in cattle farming through selecting lower-emission breeds, feed and precision farming. But the bigger picture was that the world should not be reliant on Europe for food, she said.

“Fifty years ago, Africa was able to produce the food that it needed,” she said.

“Those countries who are more vulnerable, for example in the global south, must be put into the position that they are able to produce the food they need again. Instead of focusing too much on our part of the world to hyper increase production to feed the rest of the world. This will not this will not work over time, and it creates too much dependencies.”

[ Ukrainian president expects Russia attacks to intensify during EU bid this week ]

The commission chief did not comment on the dispute between the EU and Britain over the Northern Ireland protocol. But she stressed the importance of broader western unity towards Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

“Unity is paramount,” she said. “It’s paramount for the clear message to Russia that democracy is strong, and determined, and active.”

Dr von der Leyen said she was “deeply convinced” that EU member states would vote to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate member state when their leaders meet in Brussels this week, a step seen as an important political statement of solidarity.

She would not be drawn on how soon the country could join the EU, pointing out that while both Turkey and Slovakia received candidate status at the same time, Slovakia joined within five years while “Turkey today is further away than it was in 1999″.

Her impression following two trips to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war is “they’re highly motivated, very united in their longing for the European Union”.