Roof on the price of gas, the EU Commission continues to slow down- Corriere.it

The commissioner Kadri Simson today I will illustrate to the energy ministers of the 27 EU countries, gathered in Prague for an informal council, the main points of the legislative proposal that will be presented by the Commission next week to address gas prices. Expectations are for Tuesday 18 October. And among these there will not be, except for changes in program, a ceiling on the price of gas.

The EU Commission continues the line of caution, in line with Germany’s doubts, despite requests from a large number of Member States. According to an EU source, the Commissioner’s speech today will indicate: the platform for common gas purchases in view of the reconstruction of storage starting from April; a mechanism to be applied to the Ttf Amsterdam index to reduce volatility on the price of methane; a mandatory model of solidarity between Member States in case of emergency, six bilateral agreements have been closed so far, including Italy-Slovenia and Germany-Denmark; the more detailed definition of non-essential consumption among protected consumers, going into more detail on which industries will be affected. It will then be explained that the Commission is studying the applicability of the Iberian model, that the one that provides for a ceiling on the price of gas used to produce electricity, is in fact an administered price that falls on the national coffers. But nothing more.

The informal Energy council, no decisions or conclusions are foreseen, but the discussion will be fundamental to orient the Commission. It will probably also be discussed whether to trigger the gas alert, which implies the mandatory reduction in consumption as per the agreement at the end of July. But the Commission is also working to get a mandate to define an emergency process that can lead to definition of the gas quota that each Member State is entitled to according to a precise allocation key and at a controlled price to avoid rising offers between EU countries. A tool similar to that used for vaccines. This dossier could end up on the table of EU leaders at the European Council next Thursday and Friday, which aims to remove the last obstacles to reach an agreement on emergency instruments. The Commission’s proposal will in fact be examined in detail in the Energy Council on 25 October, but an extraordinary meeting will be required in November to approve it.