The energy ministers of the European Union hold an Extraordinary Council today in Brussels to discuss possible emergency measures to be applied at Community level to mitigate the effects of rising prices in the sector.
The current Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU said yesterday that “”ministers will be invited to identify the preferred measures that could be implemented at EU level in a short period of time to alleviate the burden of high energy prices on citizens, public services, businesses and industry”. “The discussion will be based on a note from the presidency that lists different options for short-term actions that could bring relief to the energy situation. The result of the discussion will feed the Commission’s reflection on immediate emergency measures that it intends to propose soon and on new reforms of the design of the EU’s energy market in the long term”, the Council states. On Wednesday, the European Commission already presented some, including the imposition of a ceiling on the profits of companies producing low-cost electricity and a “solidarity contribution” from fossil fuel companies, as well as establishing a limit on prices for gas imports by pipeline from Russia to the European Union for the purchase of Russian gas.
The working document prepared by the community executive as a contribution to this Energy Council also includes two other proposals: a binding target for the reduction of electricity consumption and the facilitation of liquidity support by Member States for energy service companies facing problems due to market volatility. The Council has also prepared proposals for discussion, including temporary caps on the price of gas used for electricity production and on the price of gas imported from specific jurisdictions, as well as a temporary decoupling of prices from the gas and electricity markets .
In order to increase liquidity in the market, the most recent document of the Czech Presidency of the Council admits an “immediate support to the credit line for market participants who experience very high additional coverage values, including the need for a specific solution at the European Union, for example through the ECB. With many options open and different sensitivities among the 27 EU Member States, the Ministers responsible for Energy are starting, with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expected to present concrete proposals on the occasion of her annual speech on the State of the Union, to be delivered next week in Strasbourg.
