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Secure Gas Supply
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Natural gas remains part of the European Union’s energy mix, even as the EU accelerates electrification, renewable deployment and the development of renewable and low-carbon gases. Because several Member States depend heavily on imports, cross-border infrastructure and storage remain central to energy security and winter preparedness. The EU framework therefore combines market rules, emergency planning, storage obligations and solidarity mechanisms to reduce the risk of supply disruptions.
The EU’s gas-security architecture is primarily based on Regulation (EU) 2017/1938, which requires Member States to assess risks, prepare preventive action plans and emergency plans, cooperate in regional groups and protect vulnerable consumers during a severe supply crisis. The regulation also provides the legal basis for the Gas Coordination Group, which supports coordination and information exchange between the Commission, national authorities, regulators, transmission-system operators and market participants. |
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Gas storage and winter preparedness
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Following the energy shock triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU introduced mandatory gas-storage obligations in 2022. Those rules were later extended by Regulation (EU) 2025/1733, which keeps the storage regime in place until the end of 2027. The updated framework preserves the annual 90% filling objective, but introduces greater operational flexibility: Member States can now meet that target at any point between 1 October and 1 December, rather than on a single fixed date.
The 2025 update also makes national filling trajectories more flexible, allows justified deviations in difficult market conditions or where technical constraints arise, and gives the Commission the possibility to reduce the target further if unfavourable market conditions persist. At the same time, gas-storage facilities continue to be treated as critical infrastructure, with monitoring, reporting and certification requirements designed to reduce security risks and outside interference. |
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Solidarity and crisis response
EU gas security is not based only on national stocks. It also depends on solidarity between Member States, especially in extreme crisis situations. Under the gas-security rules, countries must cooperate so that protected customers such as households and essential social services can continue receiving gas even during severe disruptions. In addition to bilateral solidarity arrangements, the 2024 gas-market reform introduced default solidarity provisions to help operationalise solidarity where bilateral agreements are not yet in place.
The hydrogen and decarbonised gas market package
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A major structural update came with the Hydrogen and Gas Decarbonisation Package, consisting of Directive (EU) 2024/1788 and Regulation (EU) 2024/1789, adopted in May 2024.
These measures modernise the EU gas-market framework, support the uptake of renewable and low-carbon gases, and establish a dedicated regulatory framework for hydrogen infrastructure and markets. They also amend the gas-security framework so that security-of-supply rules better reflect a more diversified and decarbonised gas system. Member States have until mid-2026 to transpose the directive into national law. From emergency response to strategic diversificationThe EU has also moved from short-term crisis management to a broader strategy of diversification and phase-out of Russian fossil fuels.
In its REPowerEU Roadmap of 6 May 2025, the Commission set out a coordinated path for the gradual removal of Russian oil, gas and nuclear energy from EU markets while safeguarding security of supply and limiting market disruption. This means that secure gas supply is now framed not only as an issue of emergency preparedness, but also as part of the EU’s wider competitiveness, resilience and clean-transition agenda. Key legislation and official sources
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