The government views Brussels’ proposals to alleviate Europe’s energy crisis as “generally positive” but warns that it is necessary to analyze whether they protect the national market more than the measures already implemented.
At a press conference after today’s Council of Ministers meeting, Environment and Climate Change Minister Duarte Cordeiro said that “with regard to the proposals at the European level”, they are “globally positive” and the executive branch supports the measures.
“We understand that in fact they make sense, some of them we expect in our own measures, in this case, from the very beginning, limiting the price paid to renewables so that they are not paid at the price of gas, a measure that is already being implemented on the Iberian Peninsula, between Portugal and Spain, with the so-called Iberian mechanism,” he stressed.
“There are a number of other measures that we have also already taken”, namely “using excessive company revenues to finance price cuts to protect the most vulnerable consumers. On renewable energy sources, what restrictions are being introduced,” he said. recalling that the President of the European Commission “referred to a certain ceiling and we have to assess whether it will remain”, and it is “above what is defined in the Iberian mechanism”.
“These are issues that will need to be deepened at the European level. There is a general positive assessment,” he said, adding that “it remains to be understood in detail whether this allows us to further protect the national market or not.”
The government also wants to understand how the measures already in place can be adjusted and whether it can “maintain them if they are higher,” the minister said, stressing that this is “a starting point, they are not yet closed proposals.” .
“We are for everything that means limiting the price of gas imports, we are for everything that means strengthening financing lines for vulnerable sectors, we are for everything that means limiting the prices of renewable energy,” he stressed.
On Wednesday, the European Commission announced that it wants to set a profit ceiling for low-cost electricity companies and a “solidarity contribution” for fossil fuel companies, as well as limit the purchase of Russian gas.
The three measures Brussels wants “immediately” are part of a package of proposals announced in Brussels by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to “protect vulnerable consumers and businesses” at a time when families and businesses face “astronomical prices for electricity” and “extraordinary market volatility”.
The package also includes two other proposals: a mandatory goal to reduce electricity consumption and assistance to Member States in supporting liquidity for energy service companies that are facing challenges due to market volatility.
These proposals were presented by the Chief Executive of the Community on the eve of an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers of Energy, scheduled for Friday in Brussels, with a view to taking action at the Community level to combat runaway energy prices in the EU. exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh month.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
