At the European Council on 21 and 22 October, the European Commission and the EU27 Heads of State or Government will discuss the creation of a strategic reserve for gas and examine the possibility of “decoupling” gas prices from electricity prices, declared the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday 5 October.
“In the short term, we will discuss in the European Council, not only tonight, but in two weeks in the formal council (21 and 22 October), how to deal with storage - a strategic reserve - and we will have a look at the overall price composition of the electricity market because, if electricity prices are high it is because of the high gas price”, the President said during a visit to Tallinn (Estonia).
This announcement comes in the wake of a meeting of euro area Finance Ministers at which Spain argued for the EU to establish “strategic gas reserves”. France, for its part, had deplored the alignment of energy prices with gas prices, caused by the European energy market (see EUROPE 12804/1).
On Tuesday, Spain’s Minister of Energy and the Environment, Teresa Ribera, also said that Madrid would be happy to put an end to the national measures it has already taken (lowering VAT on electricity, suspending the tax on the sale of electricity production, etc.) if the EU decided to take action.
Strengthening the EU’s energy independence
While the Commission plans to present a “toolkit” on 13 October (provisional date) to guide EU Member States in taking national measures to tackle rising energy prices, Mrs von der Leyen said the energy price crisis shows, above all, that the EU must reduce its dependence on gas imports.
“90% of gas is being imported, 97% of oil is imported to the EU. So we are very much dependent on suppliers”, she reiterated.
While Norway has increased production to meet the increased demand for gas due to the post-Covid-19 recovery, “it does not seem to be the case, for example, in Russia”, the president said, while stressing that “supply is not rising accordingly”.
Praising the stable and decreasing prices of electricity produced by renewables, she went on to say: “For the mid and long term, it’s very clear we have to invest in the European Green Deal, in renewables”. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)