European Commission convened a high-level industry roundtable on Tuesday to support work under the EU Energy Platform towards joint gas procurement, which is scheduled to start in 2023.

According to a press release from the Community Executive, Tuesday’s meeting comes after the adoption, on Monday, by the EU energy ministers, of the proposal for a Commission Regulation on strengthening solidarity through better coordination of gas purchases, cross-border gas exchanges and reliable reference values in terms of prices. The respective regulation provides the legal basis for the aggregation of gas demand in the EU, the joint purchase of gas and the more efficient use of infrastructure, including LNG terminals in the EU, according to Agerpres.

The meeting was opened by President Ursula von der Leyen and chaired by Vice President Maros Sefcovic. The meeting was attended by high-level representatives of 33 companies from the EU member states and the contracting parties to the Energy Community. The meeting focused on the need for a real involvement of the gas industry in the EU, both the larger operators and the smaller operators in the market, within the framework of the EU energy Platform, that was launched in April 2022. The objective of the Platform is to contribute to the coordination of gas purchases, while using the EU’s negotiating and political power to ensure the supply of energy from reliable partners at sustainable prices for EU citizens and businesses.

“Our immediate priority is to take all the necessary steps to aggregate demand and joint auctions well in advance of next year’s gas stockpiling season. The political will is there, and now I am calling on the gas industry to play an important role. There is no time to lose, because any delay costs money,” said the vice-president of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic.

In January, the Commission will convene the first official meeting of the Steering Committee formed by EU member states, to contribute both to the coordination of the request aggregation process and to the coordination of joint purchases.