The European Commission is prepared to make concessions to EU countries that physically can’t complete filling their underground gas storage facilities before the heating season. The official target level could be legally reduced from 90% to 75%.

At a Brussels briefing, EC spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen commented on delays in several countries, including Germany. She reminded attendees that current EU rules require storage to be filled to 90% by October 1. However, regulators had earlier informed member states that 80% would be sufficient for a worry-free winter.

Now Brussels is ready to use an additional legal loophole. The regulation contains a clause allowing the Commission, by a separate decision, to shave another 5 percentage points off the required fill level. As a result, the final target would fall to a modest 75%.

However, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen stressed that the regulator does not yet see an urgent need to invoke this emergency measure. At present, gas storage facilities have been filled to only 65% on average across the EU.