Thursday, March 28

The EU meets urgently to address the energy crisis: “We must fix the market”

“We must fix the energy market.” This is the message from the Czech government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of this year. And he launches it with the call for an extraordinary meeting of the energy ministers of the 27 for next September 9 in Brussels, with the intention of addressing the energy crisis and the increase in prices.

Several countries, including Spain or Italy, have been asking for this market reform for months, practically a year, but it was not until a few weeks ago that the European Commission was receptive. This same Monday, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said at the Bled Strategic Forum: “Soaring electricity prices are exposing the limitations of our current electricity market design. It was conceived for other circumstances. For this reason, we are working on an emergency intervention and a structural reform of the electricity market”.

“The era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe is coming to an end,” Von der Leyen has said: “And, freed from Russian blackmail, there will be greater power to uphold global rules. Ending our dependence on Russian fossil fuels is just the first step.”

Czech Industry Minister Jozef Síkela tweeted: “After a weekend of negotiations, I can announce that we are calling an extraordinary meeting of the Energy Council. We will meet in Brussels on September 9. We must fix the energy market. The EU-level solution is by far the best we have.”

“The energy ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss and decide how to control the increase in energy prices,” said the Czech presidency of the EU Council.

If Spain has been asking for a reform of the electricity market for months, in recent weeks it has been the governments of Austria and Belgium who are also asking for a cap on gas to lower electricity. Top that Madrid and Lisbon achieved with the argument of the Iberian energy island.

The Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, a member of the European PP, said this Sunday: “We must stop once and for all the madness that is taking place in the energy markets. And that can only be through a European solution. This market will not regulate itself in its current form. I call on the 27 to immediately stop this price explosion.”

For his part, the Belgian Prime Minister, the liberal Alexander De Croo, stated this Sunday that he is working for the EU to agree “as quickly as possible” on a limit on the price of gas to respond to the increase in energy prices.





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