LUXEMBOURG, Oct 4 — Several EU member states today called for joint European action to fight a record rise in energy prices, but unity on what to do was elusive.
France and Spain led the charge at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg, on the eve of an expected presentation of proposals of some short-term solutions from the European Commission.
“The gas price has massively and brutally increased over the last weeks,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire as he arrived for the talks.
“It is time to have a European response” to the price shock, Le Maire said, adding that the French government had already ordered its own emergency price caps on gas and electricity.
Spain is proposing that the EU make “group purchases” of gas in order to increase the bloc’s bargaining power in the face of soaring energy prices.
Greece has proposed to set up an EU fund to help countries get through an energy price squeeze, while France wants electricity prices uncoupled from gas prices in the EU.
The call for EU-wide measures however will be resisted by some member states, notably Germany and the Netherlands, which are generally against authorities intervening in Europe’s open market for energy.
“I don’t see at least a large-scale market failure which needs to be repaired, I think the market is functioning,” an EU diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Germany is also reluctant to give up its relationship with Russia for its natural gas supplies, despite calls by other EU countries to turn away from Moscow as an energy source.
The debate has gained an added urgency since many fear that Europe’s commitment to achieve zero-carbon emissions by 2050 will squeeze citizens with higher energy prices, putting the bloc’s green ambition in jeopardy.
“I hope that European institutions will take decisive and urgent action to address this issue and to ensure that the process, the green transition process is as smooth and as fair as possible,” said Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino.
The climate concern has also heightened debate about the safety of nuclear power as an energy source, with France’s Le Maire insisting that to be “successful on climate change, we need nuclear energy”.
This is staunchly opposed by Germany, Austria and Luxembourg, all of which believe that the dangers of nuclear energy, as demonstrated in the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, are too significant to ignore. — AFP
