The energy ministers of the European Union (EU) have failed this Tuesday in their attempt to close an agreement on the price ceiling for gas purchases, so the negotiations are still open and leave the way open for them to be the leaders who unlock the situation at the summit this Thursday.
The distances have been insurmountable between the countries that, led by Spain, see too high a ceiling as "unaffordable" and those that refuse to revise the limit downwards for fear that it will damage security of supply.
The two parties have held at least three meetings to reconcile positions in parallel to the formal meeting in Brussels, in order to bring closer, on the margins, positions that in the end have not been flexible enough to facilitate the agreement for this measure.
As diplomatic sources have indicated to Europa Press, the German delegation, which had been open to consultations, has ended up withdrawing from the call to order from Berlin, which understands that the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will have better options to reach an agreement than benefit the interests of your industry.
This has caused Germany to return to its initial position, from which it rejects any ceiling on gas prices that is set below 200 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), something "unaffordable" for the bloc of countries that leads Spain.
In this way, the unblocking of the measure rises to a negotiation by the leaders of the European Union (EU) at the summit this Wednesday and Thursday, where the same sources foresee that Berlin will defend a "hard" position regarding a cap high.
Despite the efforts of both the Czech presidency and the ministers, the differences have turned out to be insurmountable, for the moment, with a view to approving the market correction mechanism, as Brussels calls it, to limit the excessive rise in prices of gas motivated by the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Although the last compromise text presented by the Czech presidency had lowered the initial limit set by the Commission of 275 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), to 200 euros, a figure around which, at first, the Germans and the Dutch were open to negotiate, the closing of ranks from Berlin has truncated the common path.
In addition to this blockade, two other regulations that the Spanish delegation conditions for a joint package with a cap on the price of gas are stopped: joint purchases and the acceleration of renewable permits.
