- Von der Leyen believes that the current system "no longer works" when in September 2021 it seemed untouchable.
- France rectifies and is now open to examining the proposal of Germany and Spain on the MidCat gas pipeline.
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| Ursula von der Leyen at a press conference. |
From unfeasible to urgent in a matter of a year: Brussels expects the reform of the electricity market to be ready in early 2023
"We need a new market model for electricity, one that really works and brings us back into balance." The president of the European Commission assumed a reality that not so long ago seemed distant for Brussels. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put the EU in a rush, under an unprecedented energy crisis. Thus, a reform of the energy market is already being considered without turning back, which will be, in the words of Ursula von der Leyen, an "emergency intervention" that, according to her, should be completed by the beginning of 2023.
But the turnaround is such that in September 2021 the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, already proposed it with a negative response. "In the European sphere is where we are going to be able to assert our specific weight in international relations in the face of that strategic autonomy and give more effective responses to the price of energy," he said almost a year ago when prices began to skyrocket. The Commission then defined it as unfeasible.
The Community Executive assured, without Russia then tightening the nuts, that market intervention was going to generate "imbalances" and it was the Northern Member States of the EU that assumed that argument. They are precisely those who now suffer the most from the energy crisis. "It is a European problem, so European solutions must be found," Sánchez warned then, pointing out that times had changed and that the system no longer works.
A few words that Von der Leyen repeated this Monday. "The vertiginous increase in electricity prices is revealing, for different reasons, the limitations of our current electricity market design," the German leader said during a speech in Bled. This premise coincides in time with the impulse that the south wants to give to its strategic role in the face of problems. Spain has found a German company to promote the MidCat gas pipeline and connect the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of the EU. Even France, which had always refused the project, has already opened up to studying it.
Von der Leyen assured that the current system was created "under different circumstances and with completely different objectives" and that it is no longer adapted to those purposes. In the current marginal system, the cheapest electricity is the one that is supplied first, while the most expensive, currently generated by gas, is added to complete the demand and is the one that ends up setting the price of all the others.
The system, which has positive effects such as promoting investment in renewable energy, has been accumulating criticism for some time, which in recent days has already turned into direct opposition by various leaders of different political persuasions of the European Union. At first, it was the governments of the south that formed this front, as was seen in a summit held in Rome between Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Other countries such as Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark did not pick up the gauntlet.
The best way to get rid of Russian fossil fuels is to speed up our transition to green energy sources
The ultimate goal is none other than to get rid of dependence on Russia. "The best way to get rid of Russian fossil fuels is to accelerate our transition to green energy sources," said the European Commission president, who called for investing in such energies. In this regard, he recalled that the RePowerEU program will dedicate 300,000 million euros to accelerate this green transition. Von der Leyen assured that the era of dependence on Russian fossil fuels "is coming to an end." Once it achieves this, the EU, he concluded, will have a greater influence on the global stage.
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