The extraordinary meeting of the 27 heads of state or government of the EU Member States will again include an energy item on 30 and 31 May, dealing in particular with the financing of the REPowerEU plan.
Presented by the European Commission on 18 May (see EUROPE 12955/4), the plan was called for by Member States at the European Council of 24-25 March to move the EU away from its dependence on Russian fossil fuels while combating rising energy prices (see EUROPE 12919/1).
However, some Member States are reportedly sceptical about the proposed funding methods (see EUROPE 12960/9).
The conclusions adopted by the EU27 at the end of the March summit also called on the Commission to “submit proposals that effectively address the problem of excessive electricity prices while preserving the integrity of the Single Market”.
On this point too, it is not clear that REPowerEU will convince the leaders.
This plan “does not really solve the pressing issue of energy prices”, a diplomatic source said, adding that “the debate continues”. It is therefore likely that the issue of reforming the EU electricity market, including the possibility of an energy price cap, will be brought up again.
In this context, the EU27 will discuss in particular how to make the EU’s joint gas purchasing platform (see EUROPE 12957/4) more operational.
See the draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/1t1 (Damien Genicot with the editorial staff)