Financial Associated Press, October 8 (Editor Zhao Hao) On Friday (October 7), local time, the informal summit of EU leaders held in Prague, Czech Republic concluded. The meeting focused on discussing aid to Ukraine and how to deal with the European energy crisis. And other issues.
French President Emmanuel Macron told a news conference that at the just-concluded summit, more and more leaders believed that more measures were needed to curb energy prices, and they now aimed for 10 in two weeks. The natural gas price cap plan was finalized before the summit on May 20-21.
Macron also revealed that some member states have left the EU to purchase energy, and the EU has received some warnings and may take action on the phenomenon.
Three key objectives of the policy roadmap
In a press conference after the meeting, European Commission President von der Leyen said she had sent a policy roadmap to leaders and highlighted three key goals to tackle high energy and electricity prices.
Von der Leyen said that the first key point is that the EU will propose to prevent countries from bidding up gas prices through joint procurement. She believes that this can build trust and transparency between member states and ensure that internal price hikes will not occur.
The second goal is to control the price of natural gas. Specific measures include negotiating the establishment of gas supply corridors with gas-producing countries such as Norway, and restricting the spot price of natural gas at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) to curb speculation.
The third goal is the decoupling of natural gas and electricity prices. Von der Leyen pointed out that this reform will have a profound impact on the market. It is a very complicated task and may not be realized until early next year. She hopes to achieve the first two points. To be enacted and to take effect in the coming weeks.
Diplomatic response takes months to prepare
Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Crowe told the media, “When I saw the roadmap, I believed that the European Commission was willing to play a role. Now we should see some results.”
However, several EU diplomats said the roadmap’s timetable was too aggressive, and that many measures were still in the form of frameworks, with details still vague and leaders likely to have difficulty agreeing on specifics at the next summit.
There are also concerns that capping TTF prices could make the region less attractive for U.S. gas. The European Federation of Energy Traders had previously believed that the natural gas price cap would make the region’s energy situation worse.
In addition, Germany’s recently proposed 200 billion euros large-scale energy aid plan has attracted criticism from many countries. Some countries believe that this will intensify unfair competition. Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki bluntly stated that the EU’s energy policy cannot be decided by Germany, and said Germany’s plan could undermine the European Union’s single market.
Von der Leyen also repeatedly emphasized the importance of the single market at the press conference, calling on all countries to maintain a level playing field and avoid differentiation and distortion.