The Diplomat
Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Latvia warned yesterday that they maintain their opposition to any reform of the energy system along the lines of what Spain is proposing, for example, through a review of the wholesale electricity market, due to the risks it poses to the market, reports Europa Press.
This was stated in an informal document signed by the nine countries and distributed on the eve of EU energy ministers meeting in Brussels to continue the debate on energy prices, in a move that repeats the sequence of October, when the same group published another text showing its opposition.
“We cannot support any measure that represents a deviation from the competition principles of our electricity and gas market design. Deviating from these principles would undermine the cost-effectiveness of our energy system, harm affordability and jeopardise security of supply,” the German-led bloc’s statement said.
This alliance of countries echoes and supports the conclusions of the report commissioned by the European Commission on the functioning of European energy markets, which advises against limiting the price of gas or establishing an average price to take into account the weight of renewables, as suggested by the Spanish government, due to the problems that these measures could pose for security of supply.
Although the final report of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is not expected until April, its preliminary assessment of November points out that initiatives such as establishing a maximum price for gas or promoting an average price among all the technologies in the energy mix “represent a significant deviation” with respect to the current system.
