On Tuesday 19 July, the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) approved by a large majority (55 votes in favour, 15 against and 2 abstentions) the compromise text reached on 6 July on the reform of the electricity market (see EUROPE 13217/11).
This text will also not have to go through a new vote in plenary, so inter-institutional negotiations with the Council of the EU can begin in the autumn, once the EU Council has adopted its position (see EUROPE 13213/9).
“The four largest groups [EPP, Renew Europe, S&D and the Greens], as well as the ITRE Committee”, Nicolás González Casares (S&D, Spanish), European Parliament rapporteur, reminded a handful of journalists.
“In 3 months, Parliament has adopted its position on an extremely complex text in record time. I think the signal has been given. Parliament can work on very complicated texts, in an accelerated and sovereign way”, he indicated. In his view, there is no need to “abuse” Article 122 of the Treaty, as was the case on several occasions in 2022, to adopt emergency measures at EU level to respond to the energy crisis.
“As a general rule, I’m not against the idea of going to plenary sessions. It gives you visibility. But at this stage, for such an important dossier with a solid compromise, supported by industry and consumers, I think it is necessary to have a mandate to start negotiating more quickly”, Maria da Graça Carvalho (EPP, Portuguese) explained to EUROPE.
Debate on access to CfDs for existing nuclear power plants
During the vote, several alternative compromise amendments were tabled: one amendment tabled by the ECR and ID groups, another by Polish MEPs Jerzy Buzek (EPP) and Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR), and finally another tabled by Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, French) to defend access to contracts for differences (CfDs) for existing power plants.
The first two amendments were rejected in favour of adopting the compromise text presented by the S&D, EPP, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups, according to the voting order, and subsequently adopting the mandate to begin interinstitutional negotiations (47 votes in favour, 20 against and 5 abstentions).
Mr Grudler said he was “appalled that the negotiators did not reach a consensus on the nuclear issue”. He has indicated to EUROPE his willingness to submit a request to object to the text being sent directly to inter-institutional negotiations at the Parliament’s plenary session in September, but only if the EU Council fails to reach an agreement by then.
“Our aim was to take back the two paragraphs that the negotiators had deleted from the Commission’s text, which were perfect”, he explained. “They explained that we could finance the upgrading of existing nuclear power stations with investments that would extend their lifespan by 10, 20 or 30 years”.
The Left group, which did not support the compromise, expressed its concern at the position adopted, which “foresees the end of regulated tariffs for households and businesses”.
According to the shadow rapporteur, Marina Mesure (The Left, French), the reform proposes to reinforce market logic “by denouncing all controls on electricity selling prices and on the deployment of new electricity production capacity”. “Public money will even guarantee the privatisation by the big companies of the electricity that is cheapest to produce”, she said.
All eyes are now on the EU Council, which is not expected to reach a political agreement in principle until after the summer break (see EUROPE 13221/14).
To review the European Parliament compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/85z (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)