EU proposes to reduce the use of natural gas by 15%

Xinhua News Agency, Brussels, July 20th (Reporter Lin Hao) The European Commission announced a proposal on the 20th to propose that member states will reduce the use of natural gas by 15%to cope with the problem of natural gas shortage facing the European Union.

The European Commission proposed that from August 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, various member states took voluntary measures to reduce natural gas use from the same period of the previous five years. If the shortage of natural gas supply at that time, the EU will take mandatory measures to achieve this goal.

The proposal requires that by the end of September this year, EU member states must update the emergency plan, formulate measures to reduce the use of natural gas, supervise measures, and report to the European Commission every two months.

The European Commission stated that reducing the use of natural gas plans mainly focuses on industrial and other fields. Family, hospitals, schools and other measures should not be affected by this measure, but they should also reduce unnecessary use and avoid energy waste.

The proposal must be implemented by all EU member states.

Since June this year, Russia has sharply reduced supply to European natural gas, which has led to an intensification of "gas shortage" in Europe and the price of natural gas has soared.

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