Poland was against the EU regulation on a voluntary reduction of natural gas consumption this winter, according to documents published on the European Council’s website.
The EU member states formally agreed to reduce their gas demand by 15 per cent compared to their average consumption in the past five years, between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023, with measures of their own choice.
The regulation foresees the possibility for the Council to trigger a ‘Union alert’ on the security of supply, in which case the gas demand reduction would become mandatory.
The purpose of the gas demand reduction is to make savings for this winter, in order to prepare for possible disruptions of gas supplies from Russia, which is continuously using energy supplies as a weapon, the Council said on its website.
The documents posted on the European Council’s website show that Poland opposed the new regulations “due to serious reservations regarding the content of the draft”, described the legal basis for the law as “defective” and said that decisions affecting the energy mix of the member states should be taken with unanimous approval from all countries.
Hungary was also against the regulation but the opposition of the two countries did not derail the plan, which needed support from a reinforced majority of 15 countries to become law.
Despite Russia having turned off the gas tap on Poland, the country has already secured the bulk of its gas needs through imports to its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal on the Baltic Sea and is also expected to open a new gas pipeline, the Baltic Pipe, connecting Poland with gas deposits on the Norwegian shelf.