On Friday, disagreements between European Union leaders over gas price caps and each nation’s emergency aid returned, with Poland accusing Germany of “selfishness” in how it handled the upcoming winter energy crisis brought on by Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
The majority of EU nations ask Brussels to propose a gas price restriction, but there is disagreement over the specifics because some capitals want to create a cap that covers all gas import and trade agreements while others would rather limit it to the electricity market.
One of a number of ideas and attempts put up by European nations to address the drop in gas supplies from Russia, which once supplied 40% of Europe’s needs, as well as the sharp increase in costs, is setting a ceiling on gas prices.
Gas prices are still significantly higher than they were at the start of September of last year, despite having dropped from their peak this year.
A price cap is opposed by Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands because they believe it would make it more difficult to buy the gas that their economies require and weaken the impact of any incentives to cut consumption.
Petr Fiala, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, particularly mentioned regulating the price of gas used to generate electricity, while Krisjans Karins, the prime minister of Latvia, said the ceiling would be “wonderful” provided the bloc could ensure supplies from producers.
The EU should take care not to damage its reputation on international markets by discouraging sellers by imposing an unappealing ceiling, the prime minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel cautioned, because “maybe (at the moment) we will have a price ceiling but we don’t have the ability.”
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, who is presiding over the summit, said no decisions were anticipated on Friday but expressed optimism that leaders’ conversations will result in an agreement when they next gather on October 20-21.
Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, has attacked Germany for what he perceives as excessive spending on subsidies totaling 200 billion euros ($196 billion) to shield consumers and businesses from growing energy bills.
He reiterated concerns about a fiscal imbalance between wealthy nations who are able to spend enormous sums of money on domestic support and others that cannot, saying “German greed must be renounced.”
Reuters.
European Union leaders disagree about how to handle the energy problem.
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