Brussels asks calm to the government: The energy market can not be changed overnight

The Vice President of the European Commission for Climate Change, Frans Timmermans, emphasized the Government's request to modify the rules of the European ene

Brussels asks calm to the government: The energy market can not be changed overnight

The Vice President of the European Commission for Climate Change, Frans Timmermans, emphasized the Government's request to modify the rules of the European energy market to redirect prices and calls calm. "The energy market can not be changed overnight," he says to a group of Spanish journalists in Strasbourg.

Timmermans admits that he received a letter from Vice President Teresa Ribera before the summer in which he urged him to "rethink" the functioning of the market. "Consumers do not understand why efforts in the deployment of renewable energies do not move more directly and immediately in lower light invoices," the minister said.

Timmermans points out that it is something that needs a lot of study. He rejects that the European market for CO2 emission rights is key at the price record price and account for gas. "I will do everything in my hand to help the Spanish government ensure that Spanish citizens are not unduly affected by market fluctuations, because what is happening are that, fluctuations." And due to gas, in addition, in his opinion, and in a conjunctural way. "Our estimate is that although the prices are now, according to the experts, they will be much lower in the gas markets next year," he said after pointing out that he believes that the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, is doing the same Bet with your measurements. He nuances, however, "the market is the market and are predictions that can change."

What is clear is the factor of the rise. "Some alluded to CO2 prices as a rise reason, but it is not like that (...) the fault is of gas," says Dutch socialist.

In his opinion, on how to face the problem, one thing is that the Spanish government takes measures to attenuate the current fluctuation of the market and "there are instruments that are within the possibilities of EU legislation"; and another, "the market redesign" that is "can argue, but not make a quick decision." "We understand that the Spanish government tries to attenuate the impact of market fluctuations in consumers, but on redesign, you can not change the energy market overnight."

Asked about the measures approved by the Council of Ministers including the intervention in the benefits of electric companies, Timmermans was cautious: "We will study those measures, I can not pronounce myself now." What he does relativized is that electricity companies can stop investment in renewable energies by current profitability losses. "I do not worry that gas prices even higher can undermine the investment capacity in this area. They have even reinforced the arguments in favor of renewable energy investment". Above that he praises the evolution in the fourth economy of the euro. "Spain has already done a lot over the years with different governments, both socialist and PP." "If we had done this at European level five years before, we would not now be in this situation because the dependence on natural gas would be much lower." He noted, however, that although the current energy price rise frame "is a problem in many countries," he admitted that there is "a specific Spanish problem" linked to short-term contracts that he did not detail.

In his opinion, in any case the challenge is to accelerate investment in renewable energies and for this it is necessary to solve "the bottleneck, which is also at European level and is the time it takes to obtain licenses for solar or wind farms" . He says that the authorities in the different Member States should correct that bureaucracy, because "we will need at least twice the amount of electricity that we are producing now."

Timmermans faces criticism in the European Parliament for fear that the acceleration of the so-called Green Deal involves more costs for households and carriers. "Those who criticize never say what is going to happen if we do not do anything, they never talk about the cost of non-action, what a fire costs in Spain every time it happens, the cost of desertification for agriculture, etc., etc ", protests the Dutch socialist. "We have to compare investment in our future with the cost of not investing in our future."

Date Of Update: 20 September 2021, 23:33