On Wednesday 27 November in Strasbourg, MEPs called on the European Commission to do more to tackle high energy prices in Europe, which are damaging European competitiveness and putting a strain on household budgets.
“Mario Draghi is clear in his recent report [...] electricity prices are higher than in the United States. This has an impact on our competitiveness and affects our economies and societies”, acknowledged the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, who will shortly be handing over to Dan Jørgensen (see EUROPE 13519/8).
In her introductory speech to MEPs, she referred in particular to the volatility of prices in South-East Europe last summer. This phenomenon was the subject of European Council conclusions in October (see EUROPE 13505/7), which call for targeted action on the part of the Commission.
Ms Simson cited a number of areas for action to improve the functioning of retail markets, such as the efficient use of infrastructure, and taking into account the potential of demand response and ‘peak shaving’.
With regard to the fight against energy poverty, the outgoing Commissioner noted the establishment of the ‘Social Climate Fund’ during the previous term of office - with a budget of at least €86.7 billion - to support the most vulnerable groups affected by the energy transition.
Several left-wing MEPs have called for this fund to be strengthened in the new legislature, in particular to help households renovate their homes.
Estelle Ceulemans (S&D, Belgian) and Leïla Chaibi (The Left, France) also called for specific pricing policies for the most vulnerable. They also asked the Commission to present a plan to combat poverty “with concrete measures to put an end to energy poverty”.
With the exception of the far right, MEPs from a number of political groups, on both the left and the right, called for an acceleration in the deployment of renewable energies and a move away from fossil fuels.
“We need to reduce and eliminate the role of fossil fuels in determining electricity prices”, said Seán Kelly (EPP, Irish).
However, some have raised concerns about the intermittent nature of renewable energies. Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, French) pointed out that European markets had recorded 466 hours of negative electricity prices this year, from which consumers cannot benefit “because the European energy system is not sufficiently resilient to fluctuations in demand”.
Andrea Wechsler (EPP, German) also called for improvements in “storage capacity and network flexibility”, while pointing out that competitiveness should now be at the heart of EU energy policy.
During the debate, the defenders of nuclear energy, such as Mariateresa Vivaldini (ECR, Italian) and Mr Grudler, once again called for all types of clean energy to be favoured, “by ensuring fair access to the grid for nuclear and renewables”. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)