Macron: 2023-24 winter even harder in terms of gas supplies
France's President Emanuel Macron sounds a stark warning about Europe's declining ability to cope with decreasing gas supplies in the not-too-distant future.
Macron made the remarks at a summit of government leaders in Prague on Thursday, saying throughout the 2023-2024 winter, the continent is going to have even a harder time dealing with limited gas supplies than it has for the coming winter, Reuters reported.
The French head of state said Europe was going to hold crunch talks with gas suppliers and turn to big Asian "partner countries" for gas purchases.
"The continent would also put in place mechanisms to ensure financial solidarity among European states for energy purchases," the agency added, citing Macron.
Russia has either choked up or lessened its gas exports to the rest of Europe in protest at the continent's sanctions against Moscow over its February-present military operation in Ukraine.
Early last month, Russia said gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would not resume in full until the Western countries reached a collective decision and lifted the sanctions.
Making the announcement, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, blamed the European Union, the UK, and Canadian sanctions for Russia’s failure to deliver gas through the key pipeline.
He said the sanctions had caused a "pumping problem" by preventing the pipeline's units from being duly serviced.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines link Russia and Europe via the Baltic Sea.
Later in September, the pipelines were hit by unexplained leaks.
Moscow put the onus on the West and its sanctions again, with Peskov saying, "It is the collective West -- in this case the European Union, Canada, and Britain -- that are to blame for the situation reaching this point."
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