European Union (EU) energy ministers will convene in an extraordinary meeting on November 24 to vote on proposals from the European Commission to tackle high energy prices, which remain divided due to temporary gas ceilings.
European sources contacted by Lusa indicated that at the meeting held today in Luxembourg, European energy ministers had only the first discussion and should give the green light at the meeting to be held on November 24 in Brussels. ‘ to proposals presented a week ago by the EU’s regulatory executive to strengthen solidarity through better coordination of gas purchases, cross-border exchanges and reliable reference prices, and to prepare the EU for a possible energy emergency.
The same sources indicated that the 27 Member States continued to disagree on issues such as the temporary cap on gas reference prices and solidarity rules in the Community bloc to provide gas to all Member States in the event of an emergency.
“Proposals must be closed at an extraordinary council [de final de novembro] and differences in positions remain, as demonstrated at the European summit, although there has been some movement,” the same sources told Lusa.
The EU energy crisis was marked by last week’s European summit, coming after the European Commission unveiled new measures to cut gas and electricity prices a few days earlier, most of which will take effect next winter when concerns rise. on the reduction of Russian supplies to the EU countries.
In this European Council, EU heads of government and state have agreed to “work on measures” for the energy sector and, despite wanting to move forward with joint gas purchases, they are defending more debate about other measures such as temporary limits on price references and binding solidarity rules.
The first concerns a temporary market correction mechanism to limit one-day price volatility through a dynamic price cap for transactions on the main European gas exchange.
Secondly, Brussels wants to establish solidarity rules in the EU to make gas available to all member states in case of emergency, for example, in the event of a cut in supplies from Russia, ensuring that countries can access the stocks of others, not least because only 18 of the 27 bloc countries have a storage infrastructure.
More favorable was the discussion on joint gas purchases, with broad support for the creation of legal instruments for such joint purchases, similar to those carried out for COVID-19 vaccines, but which should be adopted only in the spring of 2023.
The European Commission has also proposed that unused cohesion funds of up to €40 billion be made available to Member States and regions to help overcome the current energy crisis and ensure progress on the structural reform of the electricity market. per year, among other things, to separate the price of electricity from the price of gas.
Today, the European Commission presented a study in which it concluded that the possible extension of the Iberian mechanism to the EU – a measure for which no proposals have yet been made – would save 13 billion euros, but warned of increased gas consumption, for any leakage of these benefits into third countries connected to the European market and for the need for additional funding for Member States that do not have as many renewable energy sources in their energy mix.
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Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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