The measure aims to ensure that the block has sufficient reserves to face the winter, at a time when gas supply via Nord Stream remains insufficient.

The position taken by Greece comes after Portugal and Spain rejected the proposal from Brussels. The Secretary of State for the Environment and Energy said in statements to Expresso, that Portugal is “completely against” the proposal, arguing that the cut, between August 2022 and March 2023, “was unsustainable” because it forced the country to have “no electricity”.

In Spain, the Spanish vice president and minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera contested the measure saying that “we cannot be asked to make a sacrifice which we have not even been asked for an opinion on”, guaranteeing that in the country there will be no cuts “neither electricity nor gas” for households or industry.

Meanwhile, “The Greek government does not agree with the principle of the European proposal, which aims to reduce gas consumption by 15%. We have presented a series of proposals regarding prices and gas supply, and we will insist on supporting them as a European solution”, the Greek government spokesman, Giannis Oikonomou told Reuters.

Greece is 40% dependent on Russian gas and, unlike other countries, has not yet seen any interruption in supply. Still, in order to reduce dependence, Athens has been replacing much of Russian fuel with liquefied gas (LNG) imported from the United States and other countries.