The twenty-seven agreed this summer to reduce their consumption by 15 % between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 compared to the average of the last five years.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
Would “sobriety” have already paid? The consumption of natural gas of the European Union (EU) fell by 20.1 % over the period from August to November compared to the average of the previous five years, while the objective was 15 %, a Announced Eurostat, Tuesday December 20.
To cope with the draconian discounts of Russian gas deliveries since the start of the war in Ukraine, the twenty-seven EU member states agreed, at the end of July, to reduce their Gas consumption between 1 er August 2022 and March 31, 2023 and had therefore set the target of a decrease of 15 % compared to the average of the last five years, by ” voluntary reduction measures “.
From August to November, consumption fell “in most member states”, observes the European Statistics Office in a press release. Eurostat has not provided any analysis of the reasons for this drop, which could be explained in part by a particularly soft fall in Europe, additional efforts from consumers or a drop in production in certain industrial sectors.
France in the average
Eighteen member states have exceeded the goal, some very largely. This is the case of Finland, Latvia and Lithuania, where consumption fell respectively 52.7 %, 43.2 %and 41.6 %. It also fell into six other countries, which did not reach the objective. This is particularly the case with Spain, Italy and Portugal. Finally, two member countries, Malta (+ 7.1 %) and Slovakia (+ 2.6 %), saw their consumption increase. The decline observed in France is in the EU average.
Eurostat stresses that EU gas consumption has been constantly under the average of the last five years. The fall in deliveries from Russia arouses the concern of Europe. In order to reconstruct its stocks next year, the EU seeks to reduce its consumption. She also decided to make common purchases, on a voluntary basis. Vice-president of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, wished on Tuesday that the first transaction of this type was concluded “long before next summer”.