A legislative proposal to overhaul the European Union’s electricity market will not be ready until next year, Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said on Tuesday 26 July after an extraordinary meeting of Member States’ energy ministers.
She also said that the Commission is currently consulting market players and Member States with the aim of publishing an impact assessment in October.
Based on “a broad public consultation”, it will aim to define the problem and present a range of “options”, the commissioner said. While it takes into account the report of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) published on 29 April (at the request of the Commission - see EUROPE 12942/8), the impact assessment will be broader.
And the Commissioner added: “We are looking at different options for a framework which is market-based, compatible with EU market coupling and the free trade of electricity between Member states, and that gives necessary investment incentives for the full decarbonisation of the sector”.
Ms Simson’s comments follow an intervention by Greek Energy Minister Konstantinos Skrekas. During the meeting, he presented his counterparts with a non-paper containing his country’s proposals for reforming the EU electricity market by decoupling the price of gas from that of electricity.
Following his speech, some ministers quickly took the floor. Italy, Cyprus, France and Spain expressed clear support for the Greek document, while Luxembourg and Denmark called for caution for fear of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, while saying they were open to discussion.
For Danish Minister Dan Jørgensen, it is essential not to move away from a market-based system.
The German minister, Robert Habeck, said the Greek proposal was worth discussing.
Following the EU summit on 23-24 June, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU27 will discuss the functioning of the EU electricity market at the October European Council (see EUROPE 12979/1).
The issue will also be on the agenda of the 25 October meeting of energy ministers, a member of the cabinet of French Energy Transition, Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told EUROPE.
“There are more and more Member States that recognise that this is an issue that needs to be taken forward”, she emphasised.
See the Greek proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/2qe (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)