Confronting the gas crisis: Can we REPowerUE?

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the first collective responses, at European level, to the energy (and very acutely for gas) crisis that began in the second half of 2021, but particularly accentuated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the conflict, discussions have been held to identify policy levers to reduce Russian gas imports, while ensuring a satisfactory level of security of supply. This type of exercise implies considering different horizons, the first of which is the winter of 2022-2023, with the concern of managing to fill gas stocks sufficiently early. Beyond this emergency, which stems from crisis management, the perspective is also to establish a horizon at which the countries of European Union could do without Russian gas altogether. These two horizons are addressed by two European Commission initiatives: ‘Save gas for a safe winter' for the shorter term (i.e. winter 2023), and ‘REPowerEU' beyond, plans whose main mechanisms will be presented here, after reminding the regulatory framework for its security of gas supply at the EU level developed in response to the tensions already ob- served over the last two decades.