Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (left) in particular is pushing for extensive rights to intervene in the electricity market.
(Photo: dpa)
Brussels After hours of arguments about how to deal with high energy prices, the EU summit in Brussels came to an end on Friday evening. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his colleagues struggled for around nine hours on the second day of the top meeting about countermeasures.
Diplomatic circles said that everyone agreed that energy issues had to become less dependent on Russia and that prices had to come down. But how to get there is hotly debated.
Spain in particular called for extensive measures that would mean intervention in the energy market. Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal are in favor of a price cap. Madrid also wants to separate the electricity price from the gas price, because both are linked by a price mechanism in the EU.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said after the summit that his country and Portugal would be approved to introduce a temporary price cap on energy costs. These measures would not lead to price distortions on the European market.
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As Sánchez explained further, the EU Commission reserves the right to finally approve the steps presented by the two countries. According to the newspaper, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after the deliberations that Sánchez had represented the interests of his country and Portugal very successfully.
The Iberian Peninsula, on which the two countries are located, has only a few connections to the rest of the European energy market and is therefore particularly hard hit by price increases.
Countries like Germany and the Netherlands have so far rejected such market intervention. For example, it was feared that suppliers could sell electricity elsewhere if the prices set were too low.
More: Germany picks up speed as it turns away from Russian energy