Agnes Szucs
07 October 2022•Update: 07 October 2022
BRUSSELS
EU leaders on Friday are discussing ways to limit rising energy bills by capping the market price of imported natural gas and reforming the European electricity market.
As “energy prices are skyrocketing” due to Russia’s attempts to “deliberately and systematically cut the gas supply to the European Union,” it is time to discuss options on cutting gas prices, Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, told reporters on the way to the leaders’ informal meeting in the Czech capital Prague.
The 27 EU heads of state and government will address “how we can limit the peaks in the energy prices and the manipulation of energy prices by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” she explained.
To reduce market prices, the leaders will discuss plans on limiting the price of natural gas imported from partners that the EU considers “reliable”, as well as from Russia.
On the other hand, they will also talk about possibilities to curb or decouple the price of gas that is used to generate electricity, as part of an overall reform of the EU market, following the demand from 15 EU countries, including Spain, France, and Italy.
Under the current rules, high gas prices have an inflationary effect on final electricity bills which is based on the price of the last and the most expensive energy source and does not reflect the lower costs of renewables or nuclear power.
Without directly mentioning Germany’s recently announced €200-billion ($196 billion) energy support package, von der Leyen said that EU leaders will also discuss how to support businesses and households in the energy crisis in respect of EU competition rules.
The measures should preserve the “level playing field so that all businesses have the same opportunity to participate in the single market, and can compete through quality, but not through subsidies,” she stated.
For his part, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stressed that “the sources of our prosperity, related to the energy prices, have to go together with our security, which has a lot to do with Russia's aggression to Ukraine.”
Borrell said he will ask EU leaders to back the allocation of the latest trench of the bloc’s €9-billion package to help Ukraine cover its financial needs, as well as an EU training mission to Ukraine.
The EU has so far disbursed €1 billion from the micro-financial assistance, while it is preparing to allocate the second tranche of €5 billion following the approval of member countries in September.
EU leaders cannot take binding decisions since the summit is an informal event, hosted by the Czech Republic that assumed the turning presidency of the Council of the European Union.
