During a debate in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the European Commission’s Action Plan for Affordable Energy Prices (see EUROPE 13588/3) on Thursday 13 March, several MEPs from the EPP, ECR and The Left groups called for a reconsideration of the launch of the Emissions Trading System 2 (ETS 2), which has been designed to cover emissions from the transport and buildings sectors.
Agreeing with several Member States (such as Poland and the Czech Republic) who want to postpone the introduction of ETS 2, which the European Commission has planned for 2027, Peter Liese (EPP, German) said that this new carbon market “is not what we need”.
In more general terms, he called for “electricity prices to be brought under control” so as to be “less dependent on Russia, Azerbaijan, Qatar and other problematic suppliers”, and for energy efficiency to be encouraged.
For Daniel Obajtek (ECR, Polish), the solution to high energy prices for European industry is to revise the ETS system as quickly as possible, since “we cannot have financial institutions raising ETS prices; (...) we need to instead transform the system into investments”.
His colleague, Anna Zalewska (ECR, Polish) announced at the end of the debate that the group would be tabling a draft resolution on abandoning ETS 2.
Dario Tamburrano (The Left, Italian) also warned that the ETS would artificially increase gas prices “to redirect energy choices and reduce emissions” over the course of the decade.
He and his group said they were “very much in favour of decarbonising transport, heating and air conditioning”, but called for prices to remain affordable for families and businesses, and for tax breaks to be considered.
He therefore believed that the ETS should be revised in light of the fact that the Social Climate Fund is “probably not sufficient” to offset the financial impact of the system. He also called for electricity prices to be decoupled from gas prices.
Dan Nica (S&D, Romanian), who spoke on behalf of his group, stressed the importance of transparency in the gas markets. Christophe Grudler (French), speaking on behalf of the Renew Europe group, called for all public levers to be mobilised to develop electricity networks. Noting the position of the Greens/EFA, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Denmark) called for the removal of obstacles that prevent “green electricity from being distributed using our networks”. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)