European Commission earmarks EUR 50M to support Ukraine's energy industry in winter

The European Commission has earmarked over EUR 50 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund and called on the Member States to continue to help Ukraine successfully get through another difficult winter as Russia continues to destroy its critical infrastructure.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said this at the press conference following the meeting of EU Energy Ministers in Luxembourg, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“We also had the opportunity to have Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko with us, and I expressed once again the Commission unwavering support for Ukraine, ahead of another very difficult winter for Ukrainians. The Commission has already earmarked over 50 million euros to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund and I encouraged the Member States to continue their donations, too. We will do our utmost to ensure that also this winter the effects of any Russian attacks targeting Ukraine's energy and civilian infrastructure will be minimized,” said the European Commissioner.

She also commented on the readiness of the EU energy industry for the winter, noting that the energy security situation has significantly improved compared to last year.

“We have diversified our energy sources, filled our gas storage at 97% and reduced energy demand. And we keep increasing the share of renewable energy sources in our energy mix,” Simson said.

The EU Commissioner noted that the EU has been faced with an increasingly uncertain global environment: “Global gas markets remain tight and we must remain vigilant for further cuts of Russian pipeline gas, a very cold winter or further disruptions of our critical energy infrastructure.”

According to her, the Commission is closely monitoring oil markets, although the situation is better as regards oil supplies in the Union than last year. This is mainly because the Member States have refilled their emergency oil stocks in line with the last year's Recommendation of the Commission.

Simon also said that Finland and Estonia have informed the ministers about the impact of the recent incident at the Baltic Interconnector and the EU COUncil discussed how best to ensure protection of the critical energy infrastructure. 

“We will wait until the ongoing investigation is closed to draw conclusions. But I did stress the following to the ministers today: If gas security of supply of the region is not affected, it is because we have done our homework since Russia's attempt to weaponise energy,” she said.

As reported, last winter, the EU and Member States provided emergency energy assistance to Ukraine, including the supply of generators, transformers and other vital items to restore the energy infrastructure, up to 50% of which was destroyed or damaged by targeted Russian attacks.