The Parliament’s grand committee announced on Friday that Finland supports the EU Commission’s proposal to reduce natural gas consumption in Europe by 15 percent.
On Wednesday, the European body proposed to all EU countries to reduce gas consumption by 15 percent from the beginning of August to the end of March next year. The reduction would be based on average natural gas consumption levels in 2016-2021.
The aim of the cuts is to ensure sufficient gas supplies for the winter, as Russia is still afraid of disrupting or completely shutting down its natural gas supply to Europe.
Finland’s Grand Committee stated in its statement on Friday that the focus of security of supply and preparedness measures should be market-oriented and that it is important to take into account the member states’ expertise in their own situation.
The committee discussed plans to reduce gas consumption on Wednesday with the Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä (Cen), which presented a report on the extraordinary EU ministerial meeting to be held next week, which concerned member states’ energy supply security and other measures to be implemented before winter.
The Grand Committee is a decision-making body that expresses the Parliament’s position on legislative, budgetary and treaty issues decided by the EU.
Source: The Nordic Page