Five Western EU Countries Seek to Soften Gas Security Proposal
- Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy seek changes to draft
- The 5 nations favor limited solidarity provisions in crisis
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Five western member states of the European Union are seeking to modify a draft law on security of natural-gas supply by limiting proposed new rules on regional cooperation and solidarity among nations in a crisis situation.
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy shared their vision last month with other EU countries in a document obtained by Bloomberg News. The bloc’s 28 governments and the European Parliament started earlier this year legal work on a proposal by the European Commission to improve protection against gas supply disruptions. The bloc, which imports 53 percent of the energy it consumes, wants to cut dependence on Russia and reduce greenhouse gases that result from the most polluting fossil fuels such as coal.