(VOVWORLD) - Many EU member countries are expected to sign bilateral supply deals in case of a real crisis in the supply of Russian gas and an EU emergency.
Croatia is currently preparing such an agreement with Slovenia, the Jutarnji List daily reports on Saturday.
According to the daily, talks will be held on solidarity deals also with Italy, Hungary, and Austria.
At an emergency European meeting on energy on Tuesday, Slovenia’s minister said that Ljubljana definitely wants to conclude with Croatia an agreement to that effect before the end of the summer, and that a similar proposal has also been sent to Austria.
In 2017, the EU promulgated a regulation on energy supply security under which member states can help one another in ensuring gas supply for their protected consumers (such as households and hospitals) in case of a crisis.
But to date only six solidarity deals have been signed in the EU. The first one was signed in December 2020 between Germany and Denmark. Late last year, Germany and Austria signed such an agreement. This year as many as four were signed between Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania and Latvia, Italy and Slovenia, and Finland and Estonia.