At the meeting of European energy ministers which will take place tomorrow, the atmosphere may well be electric.
Nine EU countries (Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia and the Netherlands) opposed Monday in a joint declaration to a reform of the European electricity market demanded by Paris.
“
As the price surge is due to global factors, we must be extremely careful before interfering in the structure of domestic energy markets.
This cannot be a solution to cushion the current rise
, ”they said.
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Currently, gas helps set the overall price on the common electricity market. The average price of electricity is rising as more expensive fossil fuels are used to meet increasing consumption. Faced with soaring electricity prices on the wholesale market, in the wake of fossil fuels, France is calling for "
decoupling
" to prevent the "
very low cost
" prices of nuclear energy from being aligned with gas course.
The ace.
These nine countries sent him an objection, without naming Paris, affirming "
not being able to support any measure that would contravene the internal electricity market, for example an ad hoc reform of the wholesale market
".
A market where there is competition between electricity suppliers "
contributes to innovation, security of supply and is a key element in facilitating the transition
" to carbon-free energies, they argue.
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The European electricity market "has been
functioning well for twenty years, with really competitive prices (...) Intervening can be extremely dangerous, it can destroy all confidence in this market
", the Luxembourg minister warned at the beginning of October. of Energy Claude Turmes.
For its part, the European Commission considers "
effective
" system called "
marginal pricing
" because it encourages the development of renewable - whose running cost is low but require massive investment initially.
She had indicated in mid-October that she wanted to investigate possible "
anti-competitive behavior
" and manipulation, but without calling into question the energy market.
