Today the Commission proposals on REPowerEu, Ukraine reconstruction and EU defense fund

FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS OF THE PRESS CONFERENCES:

 RePowerEu arrives, push for renewables, no price cap 

(by Valentina Brini) 

Loans to governments, renewables and temporary interventions on national energy markets.

With games still to be closed on the embargo on Russian oil and the payment of gas in rubles, Europe is getting into gear to free itself from dependence on Moscow and is preparing to present its RePowerEu.

The goal is all in the name: to give yourself a new energy charge.

First of all by pushing renewable sources with less bureaucratic procedures and faster authorizations.

And then by giving all the resources and measures necessary to help the Twenty-seven finance new green investments and reforms and cope with expensive energy.

With just one caveat: the single market must remain solid and - unless Vladimir Putin decides to turn off the taps - it is not yet time for a European gas price ceiling.

In the maxi-plan that will be unveiled tomorrow, the community executive wants to cut ties with the "strategic dependence" on Russia "as soon as possible".

And to do so, it focuses heavily on diversification.

Of sources and suppliers.

With the United States which, assured Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on a mission to Brussels, they are ready to help and increase LNG supplies.

But, after weeks of debates and analyzes, the EU is also writing down what it is possible to do on the market to defend itself against expensive energy.

Which does not seem to be able to return soon.

Indeed: prices will remain high for the rest of 2022 and, albeit to a lesser extent, until 2024-2025.

A situation that requires at least national interventions.

To which Brussels is ready to give its green light:

European governments will be able to continue to apply regulated gas and electricity prices on the national retail market and introduce a reference price, also internal, for the gas used for the production of electricity.

For the European 'price cap', however, it is still too early and, to prevent it from becoming a boomerang for the single market, it will only be possible to introduce it in the event of "a sudden large-scale or total interruption of gas supplies. Russian".

The financial effort to which governments are called, however, will be massive and the Commission knows it.

To support them, the proposal is to add an addendum at the bottom of the national recovery and resilience plans (Pnrr) dedicated to RePowerEu.

To finance reforms and investments dedicated to

energy, governments will be able to use unused Next Generation Eu loans (220 billion euros), part of Ets revenues and part of CAP and cohesion policy funds.

Funds that, for those like Italy who have already requested loans from the Recovery, may not be enough.