Greece, one of the biggest proponents of setting a cap on gas imports into the EU, believes that the Twenty-seven can reach an agreement on Monday if the price of that ceiling is below 200 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) in contracts linked to the Amsterdam TTF index.
“We already established that the initial price of 275 euros (proposed by the European Commission) was not actually a price cap. Any number between 150 or 190-200 can work. I think 188 will send a good signal to the markets,” Greek Energy Minister Konstantinos Skrekas said as he arrived for a meeting in Brussels.
The heads of state and government of the EU countries left reflected in the conclusions of the summit last Thursday, adopted unanimously, that the negotiation to set the controversial cap must end “on December 19, 2022 its work”.
The last draft in which the Twenty-seven worked proposed a cap at 200 a gap of more than 35 euros to the average price in the liquefied natural gas market for three days and a “dynamic corridor” that would evolve that ceiling depending on the difference with other international markets, with safeguards to deactivate it if there were supply problems.
“We offer a solution that should satisfy both those who want a price cap and those who fear it,” Czech Industry Minister Jozef Sikela, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU this semester, said on arrival.
The Czech minister stressed that European households and businesses expect ministers to agree after months of negotiating the controversial “market correction mechanism”.
“I don’t see any reason not to be able to reach an agreement today, so nothing should stop us (…). My goal today is to unlock the bloc minority and obtain at least a qualified majority,” he said.
European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson also said she believes it is possible that an agreement can be reached if there is a “great spirit of compromise from everyone” at the twelfth Energy Council this year.
Simson advocated seeking “the greatest possible support”, because so far it has tried to reach a pact that would have the support of the Twenty-seven in a very sensitive matter, but recalled that already “this year decisions have been made without unanimity in Energy Councils” because “it does not require unanimity”.
The Vice Chancellor and German Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck, the most reluctant to intervene in the gas market for fear that the EU can not buy that hydrocarbon, a minority position among the Twenty-seven, said that “it is not desirable” to reach an agreement that does not include Germany.
Spanish Vice President Teresa Ribera, who traveled to Brussels directly from the COP15 biodiversity summit held in Montreal, said in Canada that she trusts that the Twenty-seven will reach an agreement on Monday.
