Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea del 31/3/2023 - Sección Legislación
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Source: Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea - Sección Legislación
EN
31.3.2023
Official Journal of the European Union
L 93/1
II
Non-legislative acts
REGULATIONS
COUNCIL REGULATION EU 2023/706
of 30 March 2023
amending Regulation EU 2022/1369 as regards prolonging the demand-reduction period for demand-reduction measures for gas and reinforcing the reporting and monitoring of their implementation
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 1221 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, Whereas:
1
Council Regulation EU 2022/1369 1 aims at voluntarily and, if necessary, mandatorily reducing the Unions gas demand, facilitating the filling of gas storage facilities and ensuring better preparation against any further supply disruptions. Regulation EU 2022/1369 was adopted on the basis of Article 1221 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TFEU in view of the imminent gas supply crisis caused by Russias unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the need for the Union to react with temporary measures in a spirit of solidarity between Member States.
2
Pursuant to Regulation EU 2022/1369, Member States were to use their best efforts to reduce their gas consumption by 15 % in the period from 1 August 2022 to 31 March 2023. In case the voluntary demandreduction measures proved to be insufficient in addressing the risk of a serious supply shortage, the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, was empowered to declare a Union alert, which would trigger a mandatory demand-reduction obligation. In recent months, Member States have worked diligently and have adopted measures that aim at reducing their respective gas demand by 15 %, in a spirit of solidarity. That has already resulted in effective gas demand reductions across the Union of more than 15 %, from August 2022 to January 2023.
3
However, severe difficulties persist for the security of energy supply. The global situation on the gas market has not improved since February 2022 and the Union continues to rely on certain volumes of Russian gas to meet its overall gas demand, in spite of the demand reduction achieved under Regulation EU 2022/1369. Energy demand curtailment to citizens of the Union has been avoided over the past year thanks to effective measures regarding storage refilling and demand reduction. However, 11 Member States are still declaring an early warning and one Member State an alert level in accordance with Regulation EU 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council 2. Therefore, since gas prices remain exceptionally high and since the global supply situation has not improved since August 2022 when Regulation EU 2022/1369 was adopted, there is an urgent need to prolong the measures that helped to contain the crisis, especially by continuing demand reduction. Halting the demandreduction measures would result in changes to the stable but fragile situation which the Union has achieved so far
1 Council Regulation EU 2022/1369 of 5 August 2022 on coordinated demand-reduction measures for gas OJ L 206, 8.8.2022, p. 1.
2 Regulation EU 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2017 concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply and repealing Regulation EU No 994/2010 OJ L 280, 28.10.2017, p. 1.
