BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The European Commission will Thursday propose new rules to increase the European Union's preparedness for natural gas shortages, as a potential new crisis between Ukraine and Russia risks affecting European supplies in the winter.
The proposals come months before they were expected, as new friction between Russia and Ukraine over gas payments suggests there may be a repeat of last January's crisis.
Each E.U. government will have to prepare a "preventive action plan" and an "emergency plan" to make sure they are ready to face a possible supply disruption, according to a draft of the new rules seen by Dow Jones Newswires.
The new rules would give the commission a bigger role in coordinating the E.U.'s preparedness and response to a crisis, as it will have the authority to request changes to these plans if it deems them "not effective" or not compatible with one another, according to the draft, which could still change before it is made public.
The commission will also be able to declare an E.U.-wide emergency, in which case it would coordinate the actions of the 27 E.U. countries, as well as the interaction with third countries. This would happen when two countries declare a national emergency, or if the E.U. loses more than 10% of its supplies from third countries, the draft reads.
The new rules also set tough targets to ensure that supplies are guaranteed. Within three years of the new rules coming into force, E.U. countries will have to make sure that their infrastructure "has the capacity to deliver the necessary volumes of gas to satisfy total gas demand...in the event of a disruption of the largest infrastructure during any period of sixty days," the draft says.
The European Parliament and the 27 E.U. governments will have to back the commission's proposal before it becomes law. Despite the urgency, there is a good chance that the rules won't be approved before next year, with hard negotiations only starting in September, one official involved in the talks said. Some parts of the proposal are likely to be controversial as governments might find them too intrusive, diplomats said.
Europe imports a quarter of its gas from Russia and 80% of that flows through Ukraine, which is facing a deep economic crisis and struggled to pay its gas bill for June.
The E.U. is now concerned it will have a hard time meeting an August deadline to pay for July deliveries. The bill is likely to be three times higher because Ukraine has to start filling its storages with gas to meet Europe's high winter demand.
Last month, the E.U. chaired a meeting of international financial institutions - including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank - and officials from Russia and Ukraine to explore the possibility of a loan. Further meetings are expected in the near future.