(Finance) – “He was joined today since EU Council the agreement on the mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on proposal for common gas storage. In order to improve security of supply in the current geopolitical context, the proposal aims to ensure that gas storage capacities in the EU are filled before the next winter season and can be shared between member states in a spirit of solidarity. . The mandate has been agreed by the representatives of the member states within Coreper “. This is what the EU Council announces at the end of the meeting of the ambassadors of the 27. EU Council presidency will now start negotiations with the European Parliament, in order to quickly agree on a final version of the text. The two institutions will then formally adopt the regulation.
In detail, the mandate specifies the rules for underground gas storage and the possibility of counting the stock of liquefied natural gas (LNG), by limiting the obligations to a certain volume of Member States’ annual gas consumption over the past five years, in order to avoid a disproportionate impact on some Member States with large storage capacity. As not all Member States have storage facilities on their territory, the mandate stipulates that Member States without storage facilities will have access to gas storage reserves in other Member States and will have to share the financial burden of the obligations to filling.
Member States have also agreed on one mandatory certification for all storage system operators in order to avoid potential risks of external influence on critical storage infrastructures, which could jeopardize the security of energy supply or any other essential security interest. Member States have agreed that the filling obligations will expire on 31 December 2026.
Finally, the mandate provides for the granting of a derogation in Cyprus, Malta and Ireland until they are directly interconnected with the gas system of other Member States.