Status: 10/25/2022 11:28 am
In the EU, joint purchasing of natural gas is getting closer. The energy ministers of the member states want to finalize the details in Luxembourg today. A gas price cap remains controversial.
The EU energy ministers want to set out details for the planned joint purchase of natural gas today. At the start of the meeting in Luxembourg, Federal Minister of Economics Habeck campaigned again for the plan. The Green politician called an obligation to buy together the most efficient way to lower prices. Europe has a “great market power”. Purchasing groups “bring prices down”.
“If the big players are allowed to coordinate, to form purchasing groups or to be allowed to do so, then Europe’s market power will have an impact,” said the Green politician on the sidelines of the consultation. These then no longer compete with each other and thus no longer drive the price up.
Luxembourg’s energy minister, Claude Turmes, was convinced that joint purchasing would also be legally secured by mid-November. At the EU summit last week, the heads of state and government had already agreed on this in principle.
Gas price cap remains controversial
However, there is still no agreement on a price cap for purchases and transfers. Germany in particular, but also other countries such as Denmark, see this critically, as they then fear problems with the supply of Europe. On the other hand, a necessary distribution of the scarce fuel within Europe, for example by the EU Commission, could lead to conflicts. The Commission itself had warned that a price cap could also lead to more gas being burned in power plants again.
Habeck said in Luxembourg that a gas price cap was “not the right instrument”. For this reason, only dynamic upper limits should be worked on at the moment, which could prevent speculative swings on the stock exchanges. Due to the political work, gas prices have already fallen significantly, said Habeck. “This is only good news for consumers in the medium term, because the high prices from last year will still be incurred next year.” However, this is a strong sign for the markets.
The gas price had recently fallen significantly due to the mild weather and full storage facilities in Europe. However, it is still several times higher than the 2021 price.