In May, the European Commission is expected to present its proposals to decouple the price of gas from the price of electricity, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a press conference yesterday after the end of the Summit.
The Commission President also referred to the EU-US agreement on the supply of liquefied natural gas aimed at reducing Europe's dependence on Russia.
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"We looked at various options to mitigate the impact of high energy prices on consumers and businesses," he said, while also talking about reduced taxation and price caps.
"All the options presented have advantages and disadvantages, but first of all we have to look at the root of what is causing high electricity prices and that is largely high and volatile gas prices," she stressed. "I welcome the fact that we will now use our collective bargaining power," she also noted.
Finally, she said that European leaders decided in favour of "special treatment" for the Iberian Peninsula on energy, noting that "it has a very special situation. The energy mix has high levels of renewables which is very good and only with limited interconnectivity so we agreed on special treatment so that Iberia can deal with this special situation."
Mitsotakis: Greek proposal included in the conclusions text
For his part, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after the summit that the Greek proposal for a cap on wholesale gas prices had been included in the conclusions text, although he said the discussions had been quite difficult.
"We came to the Council without any common ground on how to react to the gas price boom. We managed to include in the conclusions an explicit reference to gas price caps, among the other options we call on the Commission to consider in order to depress prices," he said.
He added that there is an understanding of how the wholesale gas market works, that it has become subject to speculation and no longer reflects the real forces of supply and demand.
In fact, he pointed out that many players in the international power generation market have, in official statements, come out in favour of the cap, which the European Commission should take into account.
Source: skai.gr
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