The working lunch starts late. Not until half past ten in the evening do the 27 heads of state and government have their Provencal vegetable soup and sea bass with fennel served in the Brussels council building. The EU summit started at 3 p.m. this Thursday. But the debate about high energy prices goes on for a long time, so the food has to wait. For a participant who is notorious for her stamina and perseverance, this top meeting on Thursday and Friday could be her last: Angela Merkel.
It is the 107th EU summit of the outgoing Chancellor. The CDU politician arrives in the afternoon a good hour before the start and explains to the waiting journalists how she thinks about the topics on the agenda. “So you see a well-filled agenda,” she says at the end, smiles and turns away. The most difficult points come in the afternoon and early evening: the dismantling of the rule of law in Poland and the rapidly rising electricity and gas prices.
Two weeks ago, a ruling by the Constitutional Court in Warsaw called into question the primacy of European over national law: the culmination of the dispute between Poland and the EU over the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. Council President Charles Michel wanted to keep the sensitive issue away from the summit, but both Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte – a sharp critic of Poland on the matter – urged it to be discussed.
“We have to be tough,” said Rutte as soon as he arrived at the council building. The liberal speaks out against transferring the billions from the Corona aid pot to Poland, and thus supports the position of the Commission. Merkel promises her party colleague Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the commission, also support in this dispute, but at the same time warns that “we have to find ways and possibilities” to “come together again here”. Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian ruling Hungarian Prime Minister, encouraged Morawiecki: “There is a witch hunt going on against Poland in Europe,” he said before the meeting.
Poland will not allow itself to be blackmailed, says the prime minister
During the summit, according to diplomats, Morawiecki stated that the conflict was “the far-reaching, unprecedented interference of the European Court of Justice on issues that do not fall within the competence of the EU”. His government will not allow itself to be blackmailed. Another diplomat added that in the debate participants had spoken out in favor of a dialogue with Poland, but at the same time the Commission had been asked to take the necessary countermeasures. Council President Michel was of the opinion that this exchange could help to find a solution, it is said. But the type of rhetoric and mutual respect – or the lack of it – “can make solutions easier or more difficult”.
As expected, this discussion does not lead to a breakthrough. The subject of energy prices is also proving to be tough. The debate is interrupted after several hours because the politicians cannot initially agree on common conclusions.
The Commission published recommendations last week on how governments can help high-price citizens and businesses without breaking EU subsidy rules. In addition, the authority wants to examine whether changes to the rules for the electricity market or for gas storage would be useful. The joint purchase of gas is also being considered. The heads of state and government discussed these ideas “very thoroughly,” as one diplomat says.
Should the EU buy gas together?
But opinions differ widely as to whether reforms and major EU actions are really necessary – or perhaps even harmful. When she arrives, Merkel advises prudence and market-based solutions. The federal government belongs to those governments that assume that supply and demand on the global gas market will level off anyway and that Brussels should not rush reforms. Other governments, on the other hand, are calling for more commitment from the EU. “The Spanish government will continue to work to ensure that we also find solutions at European level,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
His government as well as those of France, Greece, the Czech Republic and Romania speak out in a position paper in favor of joint gas orders and the reform of the electricity market, which the Commission now wants to examine. The governments dislike the fact that the electricity price in the EU is currently following the expensive gas price – they want to decouple both. But the commission warns that the current design of the electricity market has proven its worth.
France is also using the gas crisis as an opportunity to advertise how climate-friendly nuclear power plants are. Poland and Hungary, on the other hand, are using the anger over the high prices as ammunition against parts of the ambitious EU climate protection package. Because that too should make fossil energy more expensive.
Governments blame speculators
The summit’s final declaration on energy now states that the Commission should investigate whether the gas and electricity markets and the market for pollution rights are functioning well. The authority should examine whether certain trading activities should be more strictly regulated. This responds to concerns of the Polish and Czech governments that speculators are driving up prices for pollution rights. Power plants and industrial companies have to buy these carbon dioxide certificates if they want to blow greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The price of these rights has risen sharply.
In addition, the conclusions call on the European Investment Bank, the EU funding institute, to invest more money in projects that serve the Union’s energy security. EU energy ministers are expected to follow up on the issues at their meeting on Tuesday – just like the heads of state and government at their next summit in December.
It is now about refugees and the digital
Merkel may no longer be there. When the top politicians go outside from the meeting room late in the evening for the usual group photo, the Chancellor walks in front, next to her, von der Leyen and Michel. After that, the heads of state and government discuss a little further, but shortly before midnight the first day of the summit is over.
On this Friday, the meeting is to deal with dealing with refugees and digital change. According to a draft summit conclusions on these issues, politicians will condemn “exploiting migrants for political purposes” – as the government of Belarus does when it sends refugees to Lithuania or Poland. A concern of countries like Germany and the Netherlands can also be found in the draft. Governments should therefore try to prevent refugees from moving from the country of arrival to other EU countries: for example from Poland to Germany. Diplomats expect difficult debates on these issues. Merkel’s 107th and probably last summit does indeed have “a well-filled agenda”, as the Chancellor put it so gently.