Pressure from Greece and other 14 member states on the Commission: Ceiling on natural gas or block the solidarity regulation

Great pressure continues to be exerted by the 15 EU member states (among them Greece, Poland, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy) who request the imposition of a ceiling on the price of natural gas stressing that what they specifically want from the Commission is to table a legislative initiative and not some other form of proposal before the Council of Energy Ministers on 24 November, otherwise they insist on blocking the solidarity regulation.

Until this time, information indicates that the 15 member states are proceeding in a coordinated manner.

Legislative proposal from the Commission for a temporary ceiling on the price of natural gas

Earlier, the Czech Republic, which holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, and the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sent a letter to their member states in which they inform about the submission of a legislative proposal that they are committed to submitting regarding the temporary ceiling in gas price before the extraordinary Council scheduled for November 24.

“The Commission will submit in due course a detailed draft proposal for a market correction mechanism (‘temporary gas price cap’) that will take into account the conditions and safeguards requested by Member States,” the letter says

The Czech Republic, which holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, and the President of the Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, sent a letter to its member states in which they inform about the submission of a legislative proposal that they are committed to submitting regarding the temporary ceiling on the price of of natural gas before the extraordinary Council scheduled for November 24.

In particular, in the letter the president of the Commission, who comes after the end of today’s meeting of the permanent representatives of the member states in Brussels, mentions, among other things, that the Commission organized a technical seminar on November 7 with its member states regarding the issues that must be be considered before submitting any proposal for an effective market correction mechanism. The letter states that the “seminar confirmed the different assessment of the expected impacts, benefits and risks of a market correction mechanism by the Member States. Therefore, the Commission continues its work to meet the expectations of the Member States.”

For this reason the Commission points out that “it will submit in due time a detailed draft proposal for a market correction mechanism (‘temporary gas price cap’) which will take into account the conditions and safeguards requested by Member States, so that Ministers can discuss at the meeting of energy ministers on November 24”.

At the same time, the letter points out that the EU is well prepared for the coming winter. However, it is emphasized that “next year, the markets are likely to remain tight” and therefore the Commission should be ready “to submit to the next European Council the evaluation of a possible gap in natural gas supply. Our key challenge, therefore, is to ensure that we have enough gas available before the winter of 2023/24.”

The letter concludes that “the Commission also heeds the European Council’s call to accelerate the structural reform of the European electricity market, in particular to reduce the impact of natural gas on electricity prices. A legislative proposal is planned for early next year.”

, RES-MPE

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