"We are disappointed with the non-proposal of the European Commission" to limit the price of gas, Teresa Ribera, Vice President for the Ecological Transition, said openly this morning, upon her arrival at the extraordinary council of European energy ministers that is being held today in Brussels. Spain is one of the fifteen signatory countries of the letter addressed to the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, in which they urge the community executive not to delay any longer the presentation of legislative proposals in this regard. Brussels, however, continues without getting wet.
"The Commission knows that this is a sensitive issue and it has not yet seen what is the space where all the member states can respond positively, so it will be good that today we have a debate to guide what to do in this regard", added Ribera, who trusts notwithstanding that there is an agreement to define an alternative reference index to the current scale, the Dutch TFF, to define the price of gas so that the tense price situation of the one that enters through the pipeline does not also contaminate the one that arrives by ship , the LNG.
The regulation presented two weeks ago is expected to be approved at the meeting and includes three key measures: the cap on the profits of companies that generate electricity from renewable and nuclear energy in order to raise resources to help households, the imposition of a 'solidarity contribution' on companies that use fossil fuels and, lastly, a plan to reduce electricity consumption. The adjustments negotiated in recent days will allow, under the umbrella of the new European regulations, to fit all the measures adopted or announced by the member states with similar purposes, they will allow, for example, Spain to maintain its plans to tax energy companies and the agreement it's practically done.
But, as Ribera's statements point out, today's real fight is going to focus on everything that Brussels still hasn't put on the table: legislative proposals to act on the price of gas. That is the real Gordian knot of today's meeting of ministers, the second extraordinary meeting to be held in September, a debate that will most likely reach the summit table that the heads of state and government have planned celebrate next week in Prague.
The Twenty-seven are deeply divided on how to intervene in the gas markets. Fifteen countries, including Italy, Spain and Poland, are vehemently calling for a general cap on the price the EU is willing to pay for all imports, not just Russian fuel. Germany, the leading European economy and the club's leading gas importer, however, remains entrenched in its rejection of the idea along with a group of northern countries that continue to defend that it is not convenient to intervene. A small group is silent. Among those who ask for urgent measures to act on the price of gas, more than half of the EU partners, the "nervousness" due to the inaction of Brussels "is increasing", affirm diplomatic sources.
In view of the deep division of opinions, which means that no one has a clear picture of what specific measures can really generate consensus, since there are differences even among the countries that ask to cap the price of gas, the European Commission has presented the ministers a discussion document with two initiatives to try to lower the final price of electricity. The most relevant, the temporary implementation of something similar to the 'Iberian mechanism', through the adoption of a cap on the price of gas in setting the price of electricity, as Spain and Portugal do, an idea that France defends ardently in a letter sent this week to the community executive.
First rejected as an interventionist, then reluctantly accepted by Brussels and widely misunderstood throughout the European Union until just a few weeks ago, the so-called 'Iberian exception' is now on everyone's lips in the community capital. The mechanism that, since June, has allowed Spain and Portugal to significantly reduce the electricity bill paid by consumers by decoupling the setting of its price from the price of gas and is now proposed as the basis for a short-term emergency solution, although with nuances regarding the Iberian system.
"We are willing to introduce a cap on the price of gas used to generate electricity, which is what determines the real price paid by consumers," European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, announced yesterday. But "the cap must be set at a level that does not lead to an increase in gas consumption, it must continue to signal prices" to consumers to encourage savings. "If more gas is used and bought in a stressed global market, prices will rise."
Paris calls for adjustments in the same direction before extending the Iberian mechanism to the entire EU. Brussels proposes the measure as an alternative to the idea of capping the price of gas in wholesale markets, which in its opinion - and that of Berlin - could cause problems in the security of supply. On the other hand, Brussels has also embraced an idea that it was suspicious of a year ago, the creation of a joint platform to make gas purchases as a block in order to obtain better prices in the markets. This project, however, will take time and is seen rather in the medium term, not as a tool with immediate effects to help the EU get out of the difficult winter ahead.
From today's debate, it is expected that the European Commission will present legislative proposals as soon as possible to adopt emergency measures to act in the short term on the price of the electricity bill. Europe already has half a billion euros in aid dedicated to cushioning the consequences of the price rise triggered by Russian maneuvers with gas and in some capitals patience with Brussels' doubts is beginning to run out.
