“Unity and solidarity prevail.” In a tweet, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced on Friday 21 October that the leaders of the European Union had reached an agreement overnight “to work on measures to contain energy prices for households and businesses.” This is good news given that, since the start of the war in Ukraine, the EU has reacted slowly to the shock on the prices of oil, gas and electricity, weakened by the divergent interests of the Member States.“We now have a very good roadmap”welcomed the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
#EUCO has reached an agreement on energy.
Unity and solidarity prevail.
Agreed to work on measures to contain energy prices for households and businesses.
—Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) October 21, 2022
According to the conclusions released at the end of the meeting, in Brussels, the Heads of State and Government ask the Commission to submit to them “urgently” of the “concrete decisions” on a set of measures, including interventions to tame the volatility of gas prices.
Leaders agreed to promote joint purchases of gas at EU level. They also called for “accelerate its negotiations” with producing countries “reliable”, such as Norway and the United States, for “take advantage of the economic weight“aggregate of the EU rather than competing on the world market at the risk of fueling price fever.
In addition to a measure to control the wholesale price in natural gas transactions, the leaders have also requested a specific plan for a mechanism “temporary” to cap the price of gas used to produce electricity – a system already in place in Spain and Portugal, and which France is calling for to be extended to the whole of the EU -.
In a concession made to Germany, this mechanism will have to be accompanied by safeguards to “avoid any increased gas consumption”. It will also have to prevent the EU from subsidizing electricity which would ultimately be exported to neighboring countries.
If thehe Twenty-Seven wanted to present a united front, many points remain to be settled, and the negotiations in the coming weeks promise to be difficult. The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, thus clearly indicated that if the energy ministers were unable to agree on a final version of this agreement, a new summit of heads of state would be necessary.
Emmanuel Macron, for his part, estimated the mechanisms envisaged could be implemented “late October, early November”. In the meantime, leaders have “sent a very clear signal to the markets to [leur] determination and [leur] unity”, commented the French president.