Meeting in Strasbourg, MEPs adopted by a vote by show of hands on Wednesday 5 October a European Parliament resolution calling on the European Commission to propose a dynamic price cap on gas imports by pipeline, mainly from Russia, after a “positive analysis”.
Parliament considers that “exceptional emergency measures are necessary to deal with an exceptional situation”.
It calls on the Commission to analyse the need for additional instruments to address the energy crisis, including the introduction of “temporary caps on wholesale and import prices”, but also the idea of “decoupling electricity and gas prices” as part of the reform of the EU energy market.
While MEPs welcome the agreement reached in the EU Council to cap the revenues of inframarginal electricity producers (see EUROPE 13033/1), they warn that some of the largest energy companies “could escape” the temporary solidarity contribution on excess profits of companies active in the crude oil, fossil gas, coal and refining sectors.
They therefore call for this contribution to be designed to prevent tax evasion and ask the Commission to assess the amount of acceptable profit margins. The institution should also move towards introducing a windfall tax on companies that have benefited excessively from the energy crisis, says Parliament.
Stressing the need to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies, strengthen energy efficiency measures and better protect consumers, the resolution also calls for measures against speculation in the energy market and an improvement in the EU’s tools for joint gas purchases to reduce the price of imports.
Measures taken to tackle soaring energy prices, whether at national or EU level, must be coordinated, maintain the unity of Member States and be aligned with the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality objective, the text also says.
MEPs also reiterate their call for an immediate and complete embargo on Russian imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas, and for the complete abandonment of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.
The Greens/EFA Group opposed the resolution as being too unambitious, a source told EUROPE.
“We need ambitious measures that go far beyond what the European Commission has put forward. We proposed a ban on supply cuts and housing evictions, the introduction of a price cap on gas imports, the extension of the super-profits tax to all multinationals and an increase in investment in renewable energy”, deplored Marie Toussaint (French), the Greens/EFA negotiator for the resolution.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/3fa (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)