UPDATE - EU leader hails agreement on plan to slash dependence on Russian gas

UPDATES WITH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PLENARY SPEECH BY VON DER LEYEN

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ISTANBUL (AA) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday welcomed a political agreement on REPowerEU, a plan to cut dependence on Russian gas by two-thirds through new investments.

"As Europe is turning its back on Russian gas, REPowerEU is our plan for securing a clean energy future," Von der Leyen said on Twitter.

"This agreement unlocks significant resources to roll out our plan for the benefit of the whole EU," she continued.

The plan is meant to slash demand for Russian gas by two-thirds by mobilizing up to €300 billion ($319 billion) in investments.

In a recent report, the International Energy Agency said that the EU faces a potential shortfall of 27 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2023 in a scenario in which gas deliveries from Russia drop to zero and China’s liquefied natural gas imports rebound to 2021 levels.

This gap can be closed through additional actions on energy efficiency, renewables, heat pumps, energy savings, and gas supplies, it added.

“It’s good that we have the RePowerEU, I think at the same time, the need for acceleration for the renewables will also require a boost of RePowerEU,” von der Leyen said during her European Parliament plenary speech, hailing the plan, which is set to take effect beginning next year as “an enormous achievement.”

So that we can properly address the new circumstances that have been created to the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act). This is for the short term. In the medium term, however, I think we need a more structural solution because we want European industry to keep living in the retransition.”

The US’ IRA is an investment plan of roughly $369 billion to build up a new industrial ecosystem in strategic clean energy sectors.

She also said that the EU shares the US concern about the strategic vulnerability and added: “One of the possible solutions to overcome this monopoly that China has, without any doubt, would be, for example, to create a raw materials club with the United States and with other partners, with the aim to have reliability, transparency, fair conditions, value.”