Energijos kainų kilimas yra lyderių darbotvarkėje

Top of today’s (21 October) discussions at the European Council will be the hike in energy prices which is challenging citizens and businesses. Heads of government will discuss the Commission’s recent communication to ease pressure and to offer solutions for short term relief. 

Gas prices have been surging, some MEPs have called for an investigation into market manipulation from state and non-state actors, and into EU carbon market speculation in order to measure the impact that both of these factors are having on prices. 

Arriving at the Justus Lipsius Council building today, the EU High Representative Josep Borrell said: “Today we have a big geopolitical issue - energy prices. An issue with important social consequences. Today’s energy prices are the consequence of a big geopolitical game with a strong external dimension.” Borrell added that he would present the views from recent visits to the Gulf and to Washington which touched on this issue.

The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed to the Commission’s communication but added: “We know that we will have to look at the way the energy market is functioning as a whole. And in the mid and long term it is very clear that the strategy has to be to invest massively in clean and renewable energy, because this is energy that is reliable and because it is produced in Europe.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban added criticism of the EU’s proposals to add households and cars to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), however that is not a cause of the immediate problem. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda pointed to how the Lithuanian President has legislated in order to compensate households to offset the impact of higher energy prices. In other countries VAT has been reduced. Each country has adopted different options often reflecting different levels of dependency on natural gas. 

Pasidalinkite šiuo straipsniu: