On Tuesday 21 May, the Council of the European Union validated the Interinstitutional Agreement on the reform of the European electricity market, split into a directive and a regulation.
All Member States voted in favour of the two texts, with the exception of Hungary, which rejected the directive, regretting in particular the lack of flexibility given to Member States to apply below-cost price regulation when an electricity price crisis is declared.
On 14 December 2023 (see EUROPE 13314/4), the co-legislators agreed on this reform, which aims to ensure more stable, predictable and sustainable prices on the European electricity market. The European Parliament had already voted in favour of the agreement on 11 April (see EUROPE 13389/12).
In particular, the reform introduces long-term contracts, known as PPAs, to support investment in renewable energies, as well as two-way contracts for difference (CfDs) as a “standard form” of public support for investment in decarbonised electricity generation (renewable and nuclear).
Once the directive comes into force, Member States will have up to 6 months to adapt their national legislation to its provisions on the electricity market.
To review the texts adopted: https://aeur.eu/f/ca4 ; https://aeur.eu/f/ca3 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)