The energy ministers of the 27 EU Member States will discuss rising energy prices, the European Commission’s proposed climate legislation package (‘Fit for 55 package’) and the revision of the EU regulation (347/2013) on trans-European energy networks (TEN-E) on Thursday 2 December in an ‘Energy Council’.
Price increases
According to our sources, the ministers’ meeting will start at 10.00 am with a public discussion on soaring energy prices, during which the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) will present the main points of its preliminary assessment of the functioning of the European wholesale electricity market (see EUROPE 12833/7).
The aim of this debate is to prepare the ground for the Heads of State or Government of the Member States, who will return to this issue at the European Council on 16 and 17 December.
The ministers will then deal with a few ‘miscellaneous’ items before taking a break for lunch.
‘Fit for 55’
At around 2.15 pm, they will resume their meeting with a public debate on the whole ‘Fit for 55’ package, which is designed to enable the EU to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
They will focus their discussions on two of the package’s legislative proposals: the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2018/2002) and the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001) (RED II).
The Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council will present a progress report on the ‘Fit for 55’ package.
In particular, this document emphasises that discussions in the EU Council “have not progressed at the same pace on all files (in the package)”. According to the Slovenian Presidency, work is most advanced on some of the transport proposals, and good progress has been made on the energy dossiers.
However, work is progressing more slowly on the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the creation of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and a ‘Social Climate Fund’, as well as the revision of the Effort Sharing Regulation (2018/842), the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive (2003/96) and the revision of the Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation (2018/841).
The debate will be followed by an exchange of views on various issues.
‘Miscellaneous’ items
Among other items on the agenda, the Slovenian Presidency will inform the ministers about the state of negotiations with the European Parliament on the revision of the TEN-E Regulation on priority trans-European energy projects (see EUROPE 12839/28).
France will present the work programme of its future EU Council Presidency (an item that will not necessarily be public), while Denmark will provide information on the relationship between renewable energy and biodiversity (see EUROPE 12837/27).
The European Commission will present the latest developments in external energy relations and its ‘2021 State of the Energy Union’ report (see EUROPE 12820/3).
See the Slovenian progress report on the ‘Fit for 55’ package: https://bit.ly/3I5bJaM (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)