Faced with high energy prices at the start of winter, "households and businesses are waiting for a decision, I see no reason not to find an agreement today" (Monday), assured the minister upon his arrival. Czech Republic Jozef Sikela, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
Anxious to display a united front, the Twenty-Seven had initially deemed it preferable to seek unanimity, even if, on a legal basis, the text can be adopted by a qualified majority of States.
From now on, it is no longer excluded.
"I am aiming for an agreement by tonight, one way to achieve this is to use qualified majority," admitted Mr Sikela.
"It would obviously be an undesirable result. If so, we will have to live with it", regretted the German Minister Robert Habeck, calling for "not to make losers".
The Ministers of the Twenty-Seven had already agreed on December 13 on certain terms of the mechanism, which would apply to futures contracts on the gas markets, but they still have to agree on the price where the cap will engage.
While the states' positions ranged between 160 and 220 euros/MWh, the Czech presidency offered them a compromise at 188 euros/MWh, indicated French Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher, noting that Paris was defending a range of 200 to 260 euros.
"There are three objectives: to have a gas price that is acceptable for the proper functioning of the economy, while guaranteeing not to block our supplies and to ensure the stability of the financial markets", she recalled. .
"188 euros/MWh would send a strong signal to the markets," said his Greek counterpart Konstantinos Skrekas.
The Commission had initially proposed to cap monthly contracts on the TTF reference market once they exceeded 275 euros/MWh for two weeks, among other conditions - factors never met, even at the height of the price surge in August last.
Several States (Spain, Poland, Greece, Italy, etc.) had called for a clear relaxation of the conditions for activation.
On the contrary, reluctant to any intervention, other States (Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, etc.) demanded drastic "safeguards" to prevent a ceiling from threatening European supplies.
The risk being that the suppliers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) abandon Europe in favor of Asian customers paying for their gas at more attractive prices.
"On paper, this risk does not exist", estimated Ms. Pannier-Runacher, the Twenty-Seven having agreed to activate the ceiling only with a price clearly higher than the average international price of LNG and to provide automatic deactivation in the event of unforeseen disturbances.
© 2022 AFP
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