(Finance) – “Tall member countries spoke out, with slight distinctions, in favor of the Commission’s proposals, and thus a full mandate was given to move forward“The Minister for Ecological Transition said today in Brussels Roberto Cingolani, speaking to the press at the end of the extraordinary meeting of the EU Council of Energy Ministers. The Council discussed the five measures still informally proposed by the Commission against the sharp increases in gas and electricity prices, mainly caused by Russia’s manipulation of the market.
The minister reported that this general consensus of ministers was mainly on four of the five proposals, that is “all of them.” the part concerning the recovery of intra-marginal annuities “ beyond a maximum threshold that will be decided (with regard to renewable sources and nuclear power), “the solidarity contributions that we have called the extra profit tax” for fossil fuel operators, “the intelligent saving of energy, and finally liquidity to help operators in the sector “. The fifth proposal was that of the “price cap”, the ceiling on the price of Russian gas.
“We – Cingolani reported – we relaunched the ‘price cap’ solution a lot, and the result was I think positive. I calmly followed the speeches of the ministers: 15 countries clearly expressed their opinion in favor of a generalized ‘price cap’, for any import of gas and not just for that from Russia “.” There were three – continued the minister – who would prefer the price cap only on Russian gas, and three other countries that do not have any prejudices on the price cap, but would like it after having made some checks, for example of long-term economic sustainability “or on condition” that it does not get into difficulty in any case some weaker countries, and this is a reasonable opening “.
“Then there are – he added – cin five countries that are against it, or that they remained neutral, in the sense that, not having a great need for gas, for example because they have LNG or because they are isolated, they have not expressed a position “.” All, then, said that there is no time to lose, because actually the costs that energy has reached are too high. In short – underlined Cingolani -, there is a very strong majority, and we pointed out to the presidency (on duty of the EU Council, ed) that this is a very clear scenario, and we asked that a mandate be given to work as soon as possible. to this scenario. And I believe that the Commission will work on these proposals next week. “The minister then also mentioned” another fundamental point discussed by all, the decoupling of electricity from the price of gas “, in the structure of the wholesale electricity market. A reform that the Commission has undertaken to present this autumn. As for Germany’s position, Cingolani reported that the German Economy Minister, Robert Habeck “made a beautiful speech; he said that they have no ruling on the price cap. The only thing “, objected Habeck according to the Italian minister” is that for some countries of the South-East it could be a bit complicated; therefore it will be necessary to verify that this thing is sustainable “.
In fact, Cingolani specified “there are two countries that have a specific problem. But even with these countries I can guarantee that the climate has been very constructive”. And these two Member States, he concluded“are geographically bordering the Eastern border” of the EU (probably Hungary and Slovakia).