EU, agreement reached overnight on energy: here are the measures to face the crisis. Draghi’s satisfaction: “It went well”

Almost twelve hours of tension, cross attacks, long faces. Then, the photo finish agreement. The EU saves unity in the face of the Russian enemy on the most difficult dossier, that of energy. It does so by filing out, word for word, conclusions that remain ambiguous enough to leave all 27 half satisfied but, for the party of the price cap and the new Sure on energy, the agreement is making progress. So much so that Mario Draghi, leaving the Europa Building, underlines: «It went well». The agreement, in fact, puts on paper “the urgency of concrete decisions” to be taken on gas with a series of measures that include the common purchasing platform and a new complementary benchmark to the TTF. The path to follow remains the one proposed by the Commission on 18 October last.
The measures, in practice, do not change: they range from the aggregate platform for gas – voluntary but mandatory for a share of 15% of the total volume of storage in Europe – to the incentive of renewables up to a gas price cap in the formation of ‘electricity. And, on the application of the Iberian model – supported by France but not by Germany – that could open the way for a new Sure on energy. The conclusions ask the Commission to make “an analysis of the costs and benefits of the measure” which, in order to compensate for the difference between the administered price and the market price, would cause an excessive burden on the public accounts of various member countries. But the other novelty that makes the Italian premier smile is precisely the opening – still very cautious – that emerges on a possible new common debt. In fact, the measures include “the mobilization of relevant instruments at national and EU level” with the aim of “preserving Europe’s global competitiveness and maintaining the level playing field and the integrity of the single market”. A sentence that, according to Palazzo Chigi, shows that the Italian proposals have been accepted. The road, in reality, is still long but now, perhaps, the end is in sight. By the beginning of November, the Commission “will express itself very clearly” on the price cap “and we will go ahead quickly also on financial solidarity”, explained Emmanuel Macron according to whom, on this last point, there are two options for Brussels: one Sure 2 or use the loans still available (around 200 billion) today under the RePowerEu, “giving some flexibility”.
The impression is that the hawks of the North opt for the second path but, from Germany, after months of the wall some concessions have arrived. And, as expected, the other ‘frugal’ also lined up in a chain. «The focus is on the funds we already have but on the new debt we see that we can do …», opened Olaf Scholz leaving the top. Of course, Berlin was given more than one reassurance: if the ministerial meetings in the coming weeks raise any alarm in the government, a new summit of leaders will be convened. For now, however, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel have cashed in on their goal: to demonstrate that, in the face of Russia, the EU has not imploded this time either.