In May, the European Commission is expected to present its proposals for decoupling the price of gas from the price of electricity, said the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen in the press conference she gave yesterday after conclusion of the Summit.
The President of the Commission also referred to the EU-US agreement on the supply of liquefied natural gas aimed at reducing Europe’s dependence on Russia.
“We looked at various alternatives to mitigate the impact of high energy prices on consumers and businesses,” he said, referring to reduced taxation and price ceiling.
“All the options presented have advantages and disadvantages, but first of all we must look at the root of what causes high electricity prices and that is largely the high and volatile gas prices,” said von der Leyen. . “I welcome the fact that we will now use our collective bargaining power,” he said.
Finally, he said that European leaders decided in favor “Special treatment” of the Iberian Peninsula in terms of energy, noting that “it has a very special situation. “The energy mix has high levels of renewables which is very good and only with limited interconnection, so we agreed on special treatment so that Iberian can deal with this special situation.”
Mitsotakis: In the text of conclusions the Greek proposal
For his part, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after the end of the Summit said that the Greek proposal for a ceiling on wholesale gas prices was included in the text of conclusions, although as he said, the discussions were quite difficult.
“We came to the Council without a common ground on how to react to the explosion in gas prices. “We have managed to include in the conclusions an explicit reference to the gas price ceilings, among other options, which we call on the Commission to consider in order to squeeze prices,” he said.
He added that there is an understanding of how the wholesale gas market works, that it has become speculative and no longer reflects the real forces of supply and demand.
In fact, he pointed out that many players in the international electricity market have, with their official announcements, been in favor of the ceiling, which the European Commission must take into account.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
