(Ticker) – “It’s not yet time to “open the champagne” but it’s already “in the fridge”. This is the formula chosen by the Minister of Industry
Czech Jozef Sikela to take stock of the situation on the roof at the price of gas given that it is possible white smoke should arrive in mid-December, when, probably on the 13th, another extraordinary Energy Council will be held.
He said it at the press conference in Brussels at the end of the Extraordinary Council, which ended with a political agreement on the content of the regulations on energy solidarity and on the authorizations of energy production plants from renewable sources, the formal approval of which will take place at the same time as that of a regulation establishing a ceiling on the price of gas. The debate between the energy ministers was “quite heated” and the discussion “extremely complicated”, because there were “quite divergent views” on the roof at the price proposed by the Commission.
Today, Sikela says, “I had two choices: start the meeting and agree that we disagree, or take political responsibility for myself
as president and bring the states together. So my proposal was to agree on the content of the two regulations on the table
today, so that no further negotiations were necessary and that the deal has been formally closed, tied to the price cap”.
“I am pleased to inform you – he adds – that we send a clear message: we do not open the champagne yet, but we put it in the refrigerator. CIAit will probably be up to mid-Decemberwhen we will meet again for the fifth extraordinary Energy Council of 2022″.
Confirmations also come from the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Picetto Fratin, who reiterated that the extraordinary EU Energy Council, which took place today in Brussels, reached an agreement in principle sui contents of
two emergency regulations that the European Commission had proposed last November 9 (on the acceleration of authorization procedures for renewable energy plants), and on October 18 (on joint purchases and on a system of solidarity between Member States for gas supplies), with the understanding that they will be formally approved at the next extraordinary meeting of the EU Council, on December 13th.
Provided that ministerial agreement is reached in the meantime on the changes to be made to the third and much more controversial proposal for a regulation, the one on the “market correction mechanism”, as the “dynamic price cap”. In essence, approval will have to take place “in a package” for all three texts.