By Alessandro Torello / The Wall Street Journal
The European Commission will propose this week rules to increase the European Union's preparedness for natural-gas shortages, as a potential crisis between Ukraine and Russia risks affecting European supplies in the winter.
The proposals come months before they were expected, as new friction between Russia and Ukraine over natural-gas payments suggests there may be a repeat of January's crisis.
Each EU government will have to prepare a "preventive action plan" and an "emergency plan" to make sure they are ready to face a possible supply disruption, according to a draft of the new rules. The rules would empower the commission to request changes to these national plans if it deems them "not effective" or not compatible with one another, according to the draft, which could still change before it is made public.
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