Germany’s gas tariff puts EU energy solidarity at risk

Germany’s levy on cross-border gas trading puts the EU’s energy solidarity at risk and hurts efforts to cut the bloc’s reliance on Russian gas, the bloc’s energy commissioner and deputy Czech PM told reporters on Monday following a meeting of EU energy ministers.
The tariff is a legacy of the European energy crisis that peaked in 2022 after Moscow cut gas flows to Europe following its invasion of Ukraine and an undersea explosion shut the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Germany.
It had been “very clear” over the past two years that “all member states having gas storage filled… was not the burden of one country,” Commissioner Kadri Simson said.
The Commission issued EU-wide gas storage filling targets to shore up supplies ahead of winter 2022-2023. To try to recoup the billions it spent on this effort, Germany introduced what it termed a gas “neutrality charge” – a levy on cross border deals.
Italy is poised to follow Germany’s lead with its own extra charge.