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The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, Joseph Borrellhas ensured that the plan of gas storage ahead of the winter that Brussels has marked, “At the moment, very well, above the planned schedule” and he hopes that he can enter the winter with a “good” level of stock.
The EU plan established that gas reserves should be at 80% by November 1, 2022 and Borrell explained this Monday at a press conference in Santander, as part of his participation in the course ‘Quo vadis Europa ?’ that the “stock levels” at the moment already exceed 70%, reaching almost 80% in some countries. “Spain, which has 40% of the storage capacity of all of Europe, is at 80%”, stressed the also vice president of the European Commission, that this process “is going well” although -he has acknowledged- “it all depends on the faucet”.
“We fill the tanks because the tap is open, not fully open because right now 20% of the capacity is reaching us by pipeline and Russia has already announced that the supply will stop for three days, but everything seems to indicate that we can enter the winter with a good level of stock”. Borrell has stressed that the EU has already replaced “half” of what what did Russian gas mean to him, which contributed 40 percent of the total of what was consumed, and now it represents 20%.
The vice president of the European Commission has warned that this does not mean that the policy of saving and reducing consumption should not be maintained, a “call” to citizens in which, in his opinion, all European governments should influence.
“This is something that affects us all. Each one has to contribute its small part because many small parts can make a difference”, defended Borrell, who has insisted on the importance of energy saving measures in homes, as he already proposed a few months ago when he recommended lowering the heating of the houses.
The vice president of the European Commission believes that it will be possible to spend the winter “perfectly” and “continue to function” although with “restrictions”, “downward adjustments” or with measures such as, for example, limiting the speed of vehicles. “But it is not the end of the world”, he has underlined it.
And it is that, as he insisted in his conference, Europe “can survive a limit situation” but “he must want to do it” despite the sacrifices that this entails. “European society has to know how to pay the price of freedom and democracy”, said Borrell, who pointed out that “the war in Ukraine is not a whim” or a “fair” nor “they are fireworks”.
And it is that, as he has said, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “trust the fatigue of democracies” and believes that they are going to “get tired”, “they are not going to resist a hard winter and that the economic consequences of the war are going to make them waver in their support for Ukraine”. For this reason, Borrell believes that political leaders should send citizens the message that “what is wrong with us in this story is a lot and we will have to do what needs to be done” to “adapt” to the decrease in Russian gas or, even, at flow cutoff, “Knowing that we can and will replace him.”
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