Brussels,

Energy Union Strategy

The EU has a medium-term and a long-term strategy.

It concerns both procurement and production. It means choosing which raw materials to import and from which countries and which primary sources to exploit.

There is a vast mix of exporting countries of primary energy raw materials (oil, gas, coal) and an equally vast mix of energy sources and technologies for the production of electricity (thermal power plants, nuclear power plants and hydroelectric power plants, photovoltaics and solar panels. , wind turbines, sea currents, geothermal and biofuels).

Each country has the responsibility to implement its own energy policy and the EU countries decide together medium and long-term objectives or, having become topical, the countries from which to import primary sources to guarantee certain certainties on the continuity of supply.

Regarding commodity prices, countries sign contracts with exporting countries and rely on the commodity exchange for spot purchases to meet peak demand.

Lately, following tensions with Russia, some European countries have suggested imposing purchase prices. However, this can only work if the EU becomes the single negotiator for all countries and launches single purchase tenders. But this is already done by every country, which among other things also operates within the framework of its own foreign policy relations. Spot purchases that are traded on the free market would remain out in any case.

In any case, the EU is constantly redesigning its energy targets and in the last 7 years with some acceleration.

Today, two factors drive the EU strategy: climate change and the war in Ukraine.

While not having exclusive competence, the EU, through decisions shared between the Member States, issues Directives and Regulations to give a common line of behavior in implementing national energy policies.

For example, climate change has triggered the process of abandoning fossil energies, while the war in Ukraine a process of greater diversification of supplier countries (pending the abandonment of all fossil raw materials).

While decarbonisation will undoubtedly proceed until the objectives set by the EU are achieved, the diversification of supplier countries will be achieved without precise deadlines.

The war in Ukraine has placed the interruption of energy supplies from Russia at the center of the EU's objectives: in 2021 41.1% of natural gas and 36.5% of oil came from Russian and therefore the process will be very demanding.

​Will each European country have to negotiate alone and with other suppliers or will the EU be able to find an agreement between member countries to move in unison? With what powers and what political weight, as well as commercial?

But let's see the European path of the last 7 years.

​2015: An Energy Strategy of the Union

The EU Commission presented the European Energy Strategy, indicating the five dimensions to achieve the set objectives. The EU adopted a legislative framework consistent with those objectives.

​The following years, the European Commission published measures for the implementation of the strategy, with regular progress reports.

The five dimensions are:
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• Security, solidarity and trust -  diversifying Europe's sources of energy and ensuring energy security through solidarity and cooperation between EU countries

• A fully integrated internal energy market -  enabling the free flow of energy through the EU through adequate infrastructure and without technical or regulatory barriers

• Energy efficiency -  improved energy efficiency will reduce dependence on energy imports, lower emissions, and drive jobs and growth

• Climate action, decarbonising the economy -  the EU is committed to a quick ratification of the Paris Agreement and to retaining its leadership in the area of renewable energy

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• Research, innovation and competitiveness -  supporting breakthroughs in low-carbon and clean energy technologies by prioritising research and innovation to drive the energy transition and improve competitiveness.

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In February 2015, in view of the COP21 Paris Agreement on Climate, the European Commission presented its project on a Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy  (COM/2015/080), with the aim of building a European Energy Union that gives EU energy consumers secure, sustainable, competitive and affordable energy.

The project were Discussed by the EU Council (doc 6932/15) and endorsed by the European Parliament (A8-0341/2015) in 2015.

The five dimensions

Each of these gave rise to EU intervention policies, illustrated and explained in the pages on Energy of eEuropa. Go to Policies & Instruments.
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2019: Clean Energy for all Europeans Package: Renewable at 32% by 2030

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​The EU updated its strategy, with the aim of further facilitating the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy and to deliver on the commitments made by the EU in the Paris Agreement for the reduction. of greenhouse gas emissions.
This update was the result of a political agreement between the 28 EU countries at the time and took the name of the Clean Energy Package for all Europeans.

​With a view to showing global leadership on renewables, the EU had set an ambitious, binding target of 32% for renewable energy sources in the EU’s energy mix by 2030.

In 2019, the Eu Commission completed the package "Clean energy for all Europeans package. Based on Commission proposals published in November 2016, the Clean energy for all Europeans package consists of eight legislative acts.
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1. Energy performance in buildings
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To boost energy performance of buildings, the EU has established a legislative framework that includes the existing Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD) and the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU.

In that occasion, both directives were amended as part of the Clean energy for all Europeans package, by Directive 2018/844/EU on Energy Performance of Buildings, that introduces new elements and sends a strong political signal on the EU’s commitment to modernise the buildings sector in light of technological improvements and increase the building energy renovations.  ​

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​2. Renewable energy
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With a view to showing global leadership on renewables, the EU has set an ambitious, binding target of 32% for renewable energy sources in the EU’s energy mix by 2030.
See in detail here.

The Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001/EU entered into force in December 2018 and replaced:
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• Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable
• ​Directive (EU) 2015/1513 on quality of petrol and diesel fuels and on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources

Click to read - Select the last version.

 3. ​Energy efficiency

​The EU has set binding targets of at least 32.5% energy efficiency by 2030, relative to a ‘business as usual’ scenario.

Energy efficiency first is a key objective in the package, as energy savings are the easiest way of saving money for consumers and for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 
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Consequently, the existing Directive on Energy Efficiency (EU) 2012/0027 of 25 October 2012 was amended by Directive (EU) 2018/2002 on 11 December 2018.  Details here.

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4. Governance regulation

​The 2019 energy package includes a governance system, under which each Member State is required to establish their integrated 10-year national energy and climate plans (NECPs) for 2021 to 2030. (consult the National Energy and Climate Plans here)

To this end, the Regulation on Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action (EU) 2018/1999 has been in force since December 2018.​  

​It aims to ensure that the EU’s Energy Union Strategy is implemented in a coordinated and coherent manner across its 5 dimensions for achieving all. It repeals Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 on the monitoring and reporting mechanism for greenhouse gas emissions. Last consolidated version: 1 January 2021

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5. Electricity market design
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A further part of the package seeks to establish a modern design for the EU electricity market, adapted to the new realities of the market – more flexible, more market-oriented and better placed to integrate a greater share of renewables.
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​The electricity market design elements consist of four dossiers - a new electricity regulation, and amending electricity directive, risk preparedness and a regulation outlining a stronger role for the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

Following the political agreement by the Council and the European Parliament, between May 2018 and May 2019, and the entry into force of the different EU rules, EU countries had 1-2 years to transpose the new directives into national law.
The new rules will bring considerable benefits from a consumer perspective, from an environmental perspective, and from an economic perspective. The new legislative acts provide an important contribution to the EU’s long-term strategy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

2020: European Green Deal: EU climate neutral (no increase of CO2) by 2050

In January 2020, the EU Commission presented a new plan, called European Green Deal, a set of policy initiatives, one of which is to make Europe climate neutral in 2050. This means that the EU wants to achieve a balance between emissions and uptake of anthropogenic carbon.

To this end, the EU Commission presented in March 2020 a proposal for a Regulation establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1999. The European Green Deal implies the abandonment of all fossil fuels in perspective, therefore not just achieving climate neutrality. This means the gradual replacement of fossil fuels and the entry of new energy sources. There have been heated discussions on whether to consider nuclear energy among the sources that can replace fossil ones.

In 2020, the EU decided to become climate neutral by 2050. This implies developing an economy with zero net greenhouse gas emissions.

This is in fact the goal at the heart of the European Green Deal and in line with the EU's commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement.

It is certainly a very challenging one, but the European Commission has stressed that the transition to a climate-neutral society is both an urgent challenge and an opportunity to build a better future for all.

All parts of society and economic sectors will play a role: from the energy sector to industry, mobility, construction, agriculture and forestry.

The EU can lead the way by investing in realistic technological solutions, empowering citizens and aligning action in key areas such as industrial policy, finance and research, while ensuring social equity for a just transition.

​The preparatory work for the objectives set for 2050 was presented by the European Commission in 2018. All key sectors were examined and the various paths for the transition explored.

The commitment to achieve climate neutrality is in line with the goal of the Paris Agreement, which established to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 ° C and continue efforts to keep it at 1.5 ° C.

As part of the European Green Deal, on 30 June 2021 the EU adopted European climate law, a Regulation providing a legislative basis for the 2050 climate neutrality goal.
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The procedure of the EU Institutions

All Parties to the Paris Agreement had been invited to communicate their strategies for achieving greenhouse gas emissions cuts by 2050 at the end of 2020.

The European Parliament endorsed the net zero greenhouse gas emissions target in its resolution on climate change in March 2019 and in the resolution on the European Green Deal in January 2020.

The European Council endorsed the goal of making the EU climate neutral by 2050 in December 2019, in line with the Paris Agreement.

The EU presented its long-term strategy to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in March 2020.`

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​Member States and their implementing strategies on Paris Agreement

EU Member States were required to develop their Long-term strategies on how they plan to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement and EU objectives.


Stakeholder input in 2018 and Public consultation in 2019

Prior to the presentation of the European Green Deal strategy, the European Commission  asked, as usual, the opinion of the european civil society:
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• A stakeholder event on 10-11 July 2018 brought together stakeholders from business, research and civil society for a discussion on the forthcoming EU strategy.
• The public consultation from 17 July to 9 October 2018 received more than 2800 replies.
• The Commission’s vision launched an EU-wide reflection on the EU strategy, involving EU institutions, national parliaments, business sector, non-governmental organisations, cities, communities and citizens across Europe.

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March 2022: REPowerEU: Prices, Stocks and EU independent from Russian fossil fuels

On 8 march 2022, the European Commission announced REPowerEU, a plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This plan also outlines a series of measures to respond to rising energy prices in Europe and to replenish gas stocks for next winter. Europe has been facing increased energy prices for several months, but now uncertainty on supply is exacerbating the problem. REPowerEU will seek to diversify gas supplies, speed up the roll-out of renewable gases and replace gas in heating and power generation. This can reduce EU demand for Russian gas by two thirds before the end of the year.  During their meeting on 25 March in Brussels, President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden committed to working together to support Europe's energy security for the coming winters and to sustainably reduce Europe's energy dependency on Russia by investing in the clean energy transition.The United States will strive to ensure additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes for the EU market of at least 15 bcm in 2022

​More practically, the Plan was announced for measures to counter the increase in energy prices in Europe and to replenish gas stocks for autumn-winter 2022 -2023 and stimulate member countries to diversify gas supplies, accelerate the introduction of renewable gases and replace gas in heating and energy production. The plans considers credible to renounce imports of energy raw materials from Russia in the medium and long term only.

On 18 May 2022, the European commission published the REPowerEU.

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The Plan confirms that ​REPowerEU is about rapidly reducing EU dependence on Russian fossil fuels by two axes:

• fast forwarding the clean transition and joining forces to achieve a more resilient energy system
• true Energy Union​

The Plan underline the objective to significantly reduce immediately the dependency on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the energy transition. Building on the Fit for 55 package of proposals and completing the actions on energy security of supply and storage, this REPowerEU plan puts forward an additional set of actions to:

1. Save energy
2. European energy transition
3. Investments and Reforms

Virtually the REPowerEU Plan confirms all previous objectives, but estimates that the will to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels will lead to an acceleration of the energy transition. The Plan indicates the strategy to achieve this goals and that this requires massive public funding.

Read more... 

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Electricity market design

​In 2019, the Commission delivered a Communication on Electricity Market Design. The electricity market design elements consist of four dossiers - a new electricity regulation, and amending electricity directive, risk preparedness and a regulation outlining a stronger role for the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

In 2022, a new Communication to:

• ·Propose further short-term measures going beyond the toolbox that the EU or Member States can take in the gas and electricity sectors to tackle effectively the impact of sustained high energy prices on consumers and companies.
• ·Identify possible measures for the eventuality of a disruption to the supply of Russian gas.​

• ·Set out a way forward to optimise the functioning of the European electricity market so that it is better suited to withstand future price volatility and fit for the future decarbonised energy system, with an increasing share of renewables in electricity production.

​July 2022: EU plan to reduce gas consumption by 15%

​​The latest decision taken by EU countries concerns the reduction of energy consumption, in response to the energy crisis triggered both by the consequences of COVID-19 and by the war in Ukraine.

COVID-19 had caused a sharp and lasting decline in the global consumption of raw materials such as gas and oil, followed by a divestment from mining. These need continuous investments which cannot be made in a few weeks.

The war in Ukraine instead triggered political decisions that led to a reduction in the flow of gas from Russia and a decline in the Russian oil trade.

Both have led to lower availability and a consequent increase in the costs of energy raw materials.

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As a measure of solidarity with the countries that may be most at risk of a shortage of gas supplies, Member States have agreed to reduce their gas demand by 15% compared to the average consumption of the last five years, between 1 August 2022 and March 31, 2023, with measurements of your choice.

While all EU countries will do their best to achieve the reductions, the Council has specified some exemptions and possibilities to request a derogation from the mandatory reduction target, in order to reflect the particular situations of the Member States and to ensure that the reductions of gas are effective in increasing security of supply in the EU.

The Council agreed that Member States which are not interconnected to the gas networks of other Member States are exempted from mandatory gas reductions as they would not be able to release significant volumes of pipelines for the benefit of other Member States.

Member States whose electricity grids are not synchronized with the European electricity system and are heavily dependent on gas for electricity generation are also exempted in order to avoid the risk of an electricity supply crisis.

​Member States may apply for a derogation to adjust their demand reduction obligations if they have limited interconnections with other Member States and can demonstrate that their interconnector export capacities or national LNG infrastructure are being used to better redirect the gas to other Member States.

December 2022: EU Council adopts a new gas package

A new emergency Regulation has been adopted to address high gas prices in the EU and ensure security of supply this winter. This is done through joint gas purchasing, price limiting mechanisms on the TTF gas exchange, new measures on transparent infrastructure use and solidarity between Member States, and continuous efforts to reduce gas demand. The Regulation contains the following main elements:
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• Aggregation of EU demand and joint gas purchasing to negotiate better prices and reduce the risk of Member States outbidding each other on the global market, while ensuring security of supply across the entire EU;
• Advancing work to create a new LNG pricing benchmark by March 2023; and in the short term proposing a price correction mechanism to establish a dynamic price limit for transactions on the TTF gas exchange, and a temporary collar or bandwith to prevent extreme price spikes  in derivatives markets;
• Default solidarity rules between Member States in case of supply shortages,  extending the solidarity obligation to Member States without direct pipeline connection to involve also those with LNG facilities; and a proposal to create a mechanism for gas allocation for Member States affected by a regional or Union gas supply emergency.

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​In combination with already agreed measures on gas and electricity demand reduction, gas storage, and redistribution of surplus energy sector profits, these new steps will improve stability on European gas markets this winter and beyond. The measures will also help to further mitigate the price pressure felt by European citizens and industry, while ensuring security of supply and a functioning internal market. The Commission will continue its work in other areas, including revision of the State aid Temporary Crisis Framework later this month, and further development of ways to limit the impact of high gas prices on electricity prices.
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In addition, the Commission will carry out a needs assessment on REPowerEU to speed up the clean energy transition and avoid fragmentation in the single market, with a view to making proposals to enhance the EU financial firepower for REPowerEU. The Commission is also proposing a targeted flexible use of Cohesion Policy funding to tackle the impact of the current energy crisis on citizens and businesses, using up to 10% of the total national allocation for 2014-2020, worth close to €40 billion.

Joint purchasing

While the EU has made strong progress on filling its gas storage for this winter, achieving over 92% filling as of today, we need to prepare for possible further disruption, and lay a sound foundation for the following year. Therefore, we propose to equip the EU with new legal tools to jointly purchase gas. The Commission started to organise demand aggregation at EU level, grouping together gas import needs and seeking offers on the market to match the demand. It proposed a mandatory participation by Member States' undertakings in the EU demand aggregation to meet at least 15% of their respective storage filling targets. Companies are allowed to form a European gas purchasing consortium, in compliance with EU competition rules. Joint purchasing aims to help smaller Member States and companies in particular, which are in a less favourable situation as buyers, to access gas volumes at better conditions. 

The Commission organised two round of common purchase of gas. European companies had to register their gas purchase needs via the AggregateEU mechanism, in view of jointly purchasing gas on the international market. The first round was held in May 2023 and the second one in July 2023.

The Regulation also includes provisions to enhance transparency of intended and concluded gas supply purchases, in order to assess whether the objectives of security of supply and energy solidarity are met.  The Commission should be informed before the conclusion of any gas purchase or memorandum of understanding above a volume of 5TWh (just over 500 million cubic meters) and may issue a recommendation in case of a potentially negative impact on the functioning of joint purchasing, the internal market, the security of supply or energy solidarity.

Addressing high gas exchange prices

Although wholesale prices have decreased since the peak of summer 2022, they remain unsustainably high for a growing number of Europeans. Building on our previous work with Member States to mitigate the impact of high electricity prices and redistribute excessive energy sector profits to citizens and industry, we are today proposing a more targeted intervention in market gas prices. Many gas contracts in Europe are indexed to the main European gas exchange, the TTF, which no longer accurately reflects the price of LNG transactions in the EU. The Commission is therefore developing a new complementary price benchmark with ACER to address this systemic challenge. The new benchmark will provide for stable and predictable pricing for LNG transactions. Under the proposed Regulation, the Commission would task ACER to create an objective daily price assessment tool and subsequently a benchmark that could be used by energy market operators to index the price in their gas contracts.

While this benchmark is being developed, the Commission proposes to put in place a mechanism to limit prices via the main European gas exchange, the TTF, to be triggered when needed. The price correction mechanism would establish, on a temporary basis, a dynamic price limit for transactions on the TTF. Transactions at a price higher than the dynamic limit would not be allowed to take place in the TTF. This will help avoid extreme volatility and excessive prices. In addition, to limit excessive price volatility and prevent extreme price spikes in the energy derivatives markets, the Commission proposes introducing a new temporary intra-day price spike collar to be established by EU derivatives exchanges. This mechanism will protect energy operators from large intra-day price movements.

To ease the liquidity issues many energy companies currently face in meeting their margin requirements when using derivative markets, the Commission has adopted today new rules for market participants, expanding the list of eligible collateral on a temporary basis to non-cash collaterals, including government guarantees. Secondly, the Commission has adopted new rules increasing the clearing threshold from €3 billion to €4 billion. Below this threshold, non-financial firms will not be subject to margin requirements on their OTC (over-the-counter) derivatives. Both these measures will provide much needed relief for companies, while also maintaining financial stability. The introduction of these measures follows extensive consultation with European and national regulators, as well as stakeholders and market participants. Finally, ACER and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) are enhancing their cooperation, by creating a new joint Task Force, to strengthen their capabilities to monitor and detect possible market manipulation and abuse in Europe's spot and derivative energy markets, as a precautionary measure to protect the stability of the market.

Solidarity and demand reduction

The Commission is closely monitoring demand reduction measures. Preliminary analysis on the basis of reporting by Member States shows that in August and September EU gas consumption would be around 15% lower than the average of the previous 5 years. Similar efforts will be needed every month until March in order to comply with the Council Regulation. Member States will report every two months on their progress. The Commission stands ready to trigger the EU Alert or review such targets if current measures prove insufficient. To reinforce preparedness for possible emergencies, the Commission also proposes measures allowing Member States to further reduce non-essential consumption to ensure that gas is being supplied to essential services and industries, and to extend solidarity protection to cover critical gas volumes for electricity generation. This should under no circumstances affect the consumption of households that are vulnerable customers.

As not all Member States have put in place the necessary bilateral solidarity agreements, the Commission proposes setting default rules. This will ensure that any Member State facing an emergency will receive gas from others in exchange for fair compensation. The obligation to provide solidarity will be extended to non-connected Member States with LNG facilities provided that the gas can be transported to the Member State where it is needed. To optimise the use of LNG and pipeline infrastructure the Commission proposes new tools to provide information on available capacity, and new mechanisms to ensure that capacity is not booked and left unused by market operators. The Commission is also proposing today a Council Recommendation on critical infrastructure protection in light of the suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 & 2 gas pipelines.


The Commission has been tackling the issue of rising energy prices for the past year, and Member States have deployed many measures at national level which the Commission provided through the Energy Prices Toolbox adopted in October 2021.

The energy market situation has worsened considerably since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its further weaponisation of its energy resources to blackmail Europe, which exacerbated an already tight supply situation after the COVID-19 pandemic. As Russia has continued to manipulate gas supplies, cutting off deliveries to Europe for unjustified reasons, markets have become tighter and more nervous.

The Commission therefore expanded on the Energy Prices Toolbox in Spring 2022 with the Communication on short-term market interventions and long-term improvements to the electricity market design and the REPowerEU Plan. The Commission proposed new minimum gas storage obligations and gas demand reduction targets to ease the balance between supply and demand in Europe, and Member States swiftly adopted these proposals before the summer.

Prices increased further over the summer months, which were also marked by extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. In particular, droughts and extreme heat have had an impact on electricity generation by hydropower and nuclear, further reducing supply. 

​Therefore, in September the Commission proposed and Member States agreed additional measures based on Article 122 of the Treaty to reduce electricity demand and capture unexpected energy sector profits to distribute more revenues to citizens and industry. Today's proposals complement the steps already taken, and continue our work to tackle the exceptional situation on global and European energy markets. The Commission has also published today the first part of its annual State of the Energy Union Report.
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April 2023: first call for companies to jointly buy gas​

On 25 April 2023, the Commissions launched a first-of-a-kind process for European companies to register their gas purchase needs for storage via the AggregateEU mechanism, to prepare for the joint purchasing of gas at EU level. 

​EU countries are obliged to aggregate demand for volumes of gas equivalent to 15% of their respective storage filling obligations. Beyond the 15%, the aggregation will be voluntary, but based on the same mechanism.

The minimum quantities required for demand aggregation for virtual liquefied natural gas (LNG) is 300 GWh and for National Balancing Point/Virtual Trading Point (NVP/BPT) it is 5 GWh).

​Registered companies had one week, until 2 May, to respond to this first call for demand aggregation. After the individual companies' demands have been submitted, the required volumes has been aggregated and put out to tender on the global market.
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EU attracted over 13.4 bcm of gas in first joint gas purchasing tender. This covers 8.7 bcm of gas via pipeline and 2.2 bcm of LNG.

​The Commission will not play any role in the negotiations. The first purchase agreements are expected before the summer.

June 2023: second call for companies to jointly buy gas

​Commission launches the second round of demand pooling for joint gas purchases.

​In this second round, European companies had from 26 June to 3 July to respond to the call for gas demand aggregation. The collective demand will then be put out to tender on the global market from 7 to 10 of July so that international suppliers will be able to submit their offers to supply European customers. Prospective buyers can submit their demand for gas to be delivered between August 2023 and March 2025, an extended period compared to the first round.
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Demand aggregation and joint purchasing of gas is a flagship initiative under the EU Energy Platform, which was created to boost the diversification of EU gas supplies after Russia invaded Ukraine and the EU collectively decided to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports.