The EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and ECR groups in the European Parliament came to an agreement on a draft resolution on EU action on soaring energy prices on Tuesday 4 October, after negotiations on Monday evening and in the morning.
Obtained by EUROPE, the text asks the European Commission to propose, among other things, “a dynamic price cap on gas imports from pipelines, primarily from Russia”, after a “positive analysis”.
It also calls on the institution to analyse the need for additional measures to address the energy crisis, including the introduction of “temporary wholesale and import price caps”, as well as “the decoupling of electricity prices from the price of gas” as part of the reform of the EU energy market.
Calling for the accelerated deployment of renewable energy and increased support for building renovation and energy efficiency measures, the draft resolution asks the Commission to analyse the cumulative impacts of national and EU emergency measures to ensure that they are consistent with the objective of climate neutrality by 2050.
The text also urges the Commission to take measures to “eliminate the influence of speculative capital” on the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS).
Greens/EFA criticise resolution as unnecessary
On Monday evening, the Greens/EFA decided to leave the negotiating table, criticising a lack of involvement of some political groups and a lack of ambition.
“This Parliament has ways to look stupid and useless in incredible ways”, said their co-Chair, Philippe Lamberts (Belgian), at a press conference.
In his view, the draft resolution merely applauds the Commission’s recent proposals and is “a collection of national demands”.
He criticised the S&D group for having mainly sought to include an explicit reference to the MidCat gas pipeline project, supported by Spain, Portugal and Germany but blocked by France, rather than promoting common solutions and EU unity.
The president of the Renew Europe group in the Parliament, Stéphane Séjourné (French), on the other hand, defended the draft resolution, in particular the references to capping the price of gas imports by pipeline, joint energy procurement and the strengthening of the EU’s temporary instrument of Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (‘SURE’).
The draft resolution will be put to a vote by all MEPs on Wednesday 5 October, ahead of a two-day informal EU summit in Prague on the energy crisis (see EUROPE 13034/1).
See the draft resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/3e5 (Original version in French Damien Genicot with the editorial staff)