In Brussels, the leaders of the European Union agreed overnight from Thursday to Friday on a “roadmap” aimed at putting in place, in the coming weeks, measures intended to curb the surge in energy prices. It’s necessary “a stabilized spine between France and Germany” otherwise “nothing is progressing”, estimated Friday morning on franceinfo Pascal Canfin, president of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament and MEP Renew.
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“We are tackling the problem from the right end”rejoiced the Liberal MP. “For a fortnight, three weeks, mayonnaise has taken less, in particular because there is and still is a Franco-German disagreement”, says Pascal Canfin, acknowledging however that this disagreement is “less strong” this Friday than it was on Thursday. But according to the former director general of the environmental association WWF France: “As long as there is no agreement between France and Germany, it is difficult to take strong measures” at the European level.
European Council: “When there is no stabilized spine between France and Germany, nothing advances”, recognizes Pascal Canfin. For group gas purchases, “there is a country that has not played the game”, it is Germany. pic.twitter.com/QkxGunw8Sw
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) October 21, 2022
Between Paris and Berlin, relations have been strained in recent weeks around the issue of energy with deep differences on the gas price cap and the European solidarity mechanism in the face of soaring energy prices, both wanted by France. Emmanuel Macron went so far as to mention the isolation of Germany on Thursday.“I think it’s not good for Germany or for Europe that it isolates itself”, said the French president.
Emmanuel Macron also felt that it was necessary to “coordinate upstream”, rather than going it alone as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did when he announced a 200 billion euro mega-support plan to protect his economy in the face of the economic crisis. “I think the President of the Republic was perfectly right to take responsibility and say ‘since we don’t agree, we’ll say we don’t agree'”, Judge Pascal Canfin. “We are in a situation where we can tell the Germans, now we have to play collectively”, he launched.
The European Commission aims for the 27 States to buy gas together in order to secure supply to Europe and calm the surge in prices. Member States will have to group together to buy together a limited volume of gas on the one hand, and on the other hand, a “voluntary purchase system” is on the table. The gas companies will be able to form a European gas purchasing consortium, by derogating from the strict rules of competition usually in force within the European Union. The discussions initiated in March on this subject, the day after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, had not been able to succeed until now. The responsibility lies with Germany, believes Pascal Canfin: “There is a country that massively bought gas all over the world, all by itself, and that country is called Germany.”
As for the Covid-19, it is necessary “a European response” on gas, defends the MEP. He draws a parallel between European action at the time of the health crisis and the prospects for a common response by the 27 to the energy crisis. Europe could have “Massive purchase of vaccines” at a lower price, recalls Pascal Cafin and “that’s exactly what needs to be done” for the gas, he says, “that is to say, go see the gas sellers together”.
Member States are also divided over the cap on the price of gas needed to produce electricity. A price cap is already in force in Spain and Portugal, making it possible to lower prices. This mechanism, says “Iberian”is desired by France but Germany is opposed to it, like the Netherlands or Denmark. “I hope we will win this battle”, launched Pascal Canfin. According to him a ceiling “is absolutely fundamental to bringing down prices for everyone, including households and increasingly also businesses.”