EU emergency measures to be decided by end of the month

After the European Commission has put some concrete proposals concerning the energy crisis on the tabel, the European energy ministers hope to be able to make a collective decision by the end of the month. The ministers announced to meet again on Friday 30 September.

"On 30 September, we will finish what we started last week," Czech industry minister Jozef Sikela announced the meeting on Twitter.

Sikela led a first emergency meeting on the energy crisis last week, where a consenus emerged on a number of measures to reduce the bill. The ministers now urged the European Commission to put concrete proposals on the table. The commissioners will today discuss possible measures during their weekly lecture this afternoon in Strasbourg and will present the results tomorrow. ​

Cut consumption

One of the measures will be to cut electricity consumption. ​ Following earlier agreements on curbing gas consumption, the Commission now wants to present binding targets. For instance, electricity consumption should be curbed by 10 per cent, and by five per cent at peak times. ​

Solidarity contribution

There was also broad support among ministers for the idea of requiring a solidarity contribution from gas and oil companies and skimming the excess profits of power generators based on renewable and nuclear energy. There is talk of a revenue cap of 180 to 200 euros per megawatt-hour.

Price cap

A general price cap on gas would not be among them yet. In the past, the Commission itself showed concern about the impact on energy supplies and advocated a cap on Russian gas only. However, that did not find much support among ministers, a majority of them wanting a general price cap. A proposal on that too, partly driven by Belgium, should be on the table by the end of the month.

© Minister of industry and trade of the Czech Republic Jozef Sikela during a joint press conference with EU commissioner for Energy Estonia's as part of a meeting of EU energy ministers to find solutions to rising energy prices at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Septembre 9, 2022.