The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, demanded yesterday before the rest of the EU leaders that gas and electricity prices be unlinked to avoid the “irrational” increase in tariffs and in anticipation of the harmful effects that the sanctions against Russia will have on Europe’s energy supply.
Pedro Sánchez participated on March 10 and 11 in the informal European Council in Versailles, convened by the French Presidency of the EU, in which the 27 addressed the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and discussed sanctions against Russia and Belarus for the war, the strategic autonomy of the Union -both in energy and defense-, the request for accession to the EU of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova and the new model of economic growth and investment.
In the debate on energy, the 27 reached an agreement to ask the European Commission to prepare, before the end of March, a document with “concrete, urgent and immediately effective measures to substantially reduce electricity prices”. This text will be discussed at the next European Council on March 24 and 25.
In this respect, Pedro Sánchez stressed that, for the first time, the underlying problem of this crisis has been addressed: the “contagion effect” of natural gas prices in the electricity market due to the current price formation rules. For this reason, the head of the Executive announced at the press conference following the summit that, in the next few days, he will undertake a tour of several European countries -which he did not specify- to unify positions with a view to the Council at the end of March in Brussels, where firm decisions are expected. “I am going on a tour of different European countries to talk to the leaders so that we can put together a proposal that will put a stop to this irrational escalation of electricity and gas prices,” he declared. The objective, he added, is to “defend industry and small companies from Putin’s energy blackmail”.
According to Sánchez, measures to decouple the price of gas from that of electricity “are not only urgent, but necessary”, and there is already a broad consensus among member states on the need to intervene in the energy market. In fact, he assured, countries such as Belgium, Italy or Greece have already proposed their own options to cut the “contagion” of gas on the price of electricity.
According to Moncloa, Spain has an energy mix in which 45% of electricity production comes from renewable energies, which are highly competitive, cheap, clean and which guarantee energy autonomy. Apart from that, with a diversified supply, with Algeria and the USA as main suppliers, Spain does not depend on Russian gas, from where it only imported 8.7% in 2021. Therefore, our country will not be affected by the lack of supply as it has six of the 24 regasification plants in Europe, although Spain is affected by the rise in energy prices due to the impact of the Ukrainian conflict on international markets.
Another of the issues addressed was that of raw materials and their impact on food prices. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and cereals for livestock feed. For this reason, and at Spain’s proposal, the 27 have asked the European Commission to present, as soon as possible, options to address the increase in food prices and the problem of world food security.
Defense, Russia and European candidatures
In defense matters, the Member States claimed the geopolitical importance of the EU and agreed on the need to “substantially” increase defense spending -especially in view of the new security challenges arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine- and investments in technology, and to promote the development and joint acquisition of capabilities. In this sense, Sánchez demanded that the EU Strategic Compass “be truly operational, and serve to face current crises, such as the one in Ukraine, but also future crises of a different nature”.
Regarding the invasion of Ukraine, the Heads of State and Government of the 27 agreed on a Joint Declaration in which they demanded that Russia cease its military actions, withdraw all military forces and equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine, “immediately and unconditionally”, and fully respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
The leaders also addressed the formal applications for EU membership submitted by Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, which they consider “the best demonstration of the strength of the European project.” As for Ukraine, the 27 recognized the country’s European perspective and assured that “Ukraine belongs to the European family”.
