Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) called on the European Commission to go further in its plan to move the EU away from energy dependence on Russia by 2027 and to tackle soaring energy prices, in an exchange with Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson on Tuesday 15 March.
The plan, entitled REPowerEU, is essentially a new set of guidelines for Member States, complementing the toolkit presented on 13 October 2021 (see EUROPE 12906/4, 12811/1).
In addition to recommendations, it includes the presentation by April of a legislative proposal requiring that gas storage facilities in the EU be filled to at least 90% of their capacity by 1 October each year.
While the EPP and S&D group coordinators, Maria Carvalho (Portugal) and Dan Nica (Romania), welcomed the initiative, both called for urgent action.
In the first place, the European Commission must propose ambitious short-term measures “to address the issue of security of supply”. It called for the urgent completion of the internal energy market by completing some of the missing interconnections.
Faced with the need to move quickly away from Russian energy imports, Ms Carvalho defended postponing the closure of some nuclear power plants and maintaining the “cleanest” coal-fired plants for a limited period.
Deploring failures in the electricity market, Mr Nica urged the European Commission to take strict measures to monitor the market and combat the capture of “extraordinary profits” by certain players.
On this point, the European Commission Communication states that “in the current crisis situation, Member States may exceptionally decide to introduce tax measures to capture part of the profits made by certain electricity producers”.
This formulation is far too weak for the coordinator of The Left group, Marc Botenga (Belgium). Stressing the urgency of helping households with rising energy prices, he criticised the European Commission’s lack of strong measures and called for prices to be frozen at their level of last September.
To combat soaring energy prices, “we need targeted support, not a subsidy which goes unlimited regardless of how much energy is consumed in the first place”, said Jutta Paulus (Germany), coordinator for the Greens/EFA.
She also asked the European Commission to provide Member States with a detailed plan on how citizens can create, store, sell and share energy, as well as on the possibilities for speeding up permitting procedures for renewable energy projects by limiting them to a maximum of 1 year for wind energy projects and 3 months for solar energy projects.
Responding to MEPs, Ms Simson recalled that the European Commission intends to suggest to Member States the creation of limited and clearly defined areas that are particularly suitable for renewable energy projects, in the framework of the forthcoming proposal for a law on nature restoration (due on 23 March).
In May, it will also unveil a recommendation on the rapid licensing of renewable energy projects, as well as options for optimising the design of the electricity market.
In order to protect consumers, the European Commission will also present, by the European Council of 24-25 March, options to limit the spill-over effect of rising gas prices to electricity prices. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)