Paris 9th September : In advance of an European Union (EU) emergency energy meeting scheduled for Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his support for reform of the European electricity market, which will include greater financial contribution from market players and anti-speculative measures to combat the rising cost of energy. “The cost of electricity has to be formulated more clearly,” he told a press event in the Elysee Palace.
If the 27 EU countries aren’t able to reach an agreement by Friday, the deal will be put in place “in any event at the level of national government”, he said.
This week, Germany had announced a tax on “the luckful results” of energy companies to finance an aid plan of 65 billion euros.
German and French wholesale electricity prices for 2023 set new records on the 26th of August and 27.Prices ranged from more than 1000 euros for a megawatt hour (MWh).
The price was about 85 euros for MWh in the last year.
The energy security of Europe has been weakened by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, with the reduction of Russian gas supplies as well as the limited supply of French nuclear power stations pushing the prices of electricity to record levels.
The recent stoppage of gas flow via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline has exacerbated the problem.
These issues will be at forefront of the EU energy ministers”emergency meeting” in Brussels.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has previously proposed taxing the windfall profit of energy producers, and also limiting the cost of the import of natural gas from certain geographic areas including Russia.
Then, at the end of August, she called for an “emergency intervention” and an overall reform of the electric market”.
A year ago, similar reform plans were met with opposition from a number of EU states including Germany.
However, France, Italy, Spain as well as a few other member countries declared their approval of reforms before in the past.
The Czech Republic, currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU Council, has called for “a cap on the cost of gasoline used to generate electricity” and Belgium would like a tariff protection for electricity.
The annual energy bill is now equal to more than a month’s wage for workers with low incomes in sixteen EU members, an analysis conducted by the European Trade Union Confederation showed.
The impact of this crisis is made worse because 9.5 million individuals in employment had already struggled with in paying their bills for energy prior to when the cost of living crisis began.
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