Germany is open to capping gas throughout Europe as proposed by Spain, Austria and the Czech Republic | companies

Berlin is willing to consider a gas price cap, according to various Italian newspapers and the agency Reutersciting a text message sent by the German economy minister to energy ministers across Europe.

Robert Habeck sent a text to European energy ministers indicating that Berlin could consider gas removal at an emergency meeting of European Union energy ministers on September 9. In it, the European Commission opens the door for the first time to restructure the community electricity system in order to face the rise in energy prices and the cutoff of gas supply from Russia.

Extending to the entire EU the cap on the price of gas that Spain took from Brussels in the spring, the so-called Iberian exception, is one of the proposals that the Government will make at that summit, as published The country. The Vice President for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, will also propose limiting the price paid for CO2 emission rights. On the table are also measures such as introducing instruments to curb speculation of these rights in the financial markets.

“The price of gas cannot be the one that sets the price of all the electricity we consume, because the price of gas only matters about 20% of the electricity we consume, the rest is produced with other types of costs that have nothing to do with the cost of gas in the international markets and it makes no sense to repay it in the same way”, Ribera stated this morning in an interview on RAC1.

The president of the European Commission, Úrsula von der Leyen, stated in a speech with the German Economy Minister, Robert Habeck, that her intention is to develop an instrument that ensures that “the price of gas no longer dominates the price of electricity “. Habeck has defended creating a tax to tax the excessive profits of the electric companies.

Amid support for introducing a gas price cap, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala is seeking Germany’s support for his plan to limit the price at a summit with German Prime Minister Martin Schloz in Prague on Monday. . Fiala, who holds the rotating presidency of the union, stated that his goal is to reach an agreement between the countries before the meeting on the 9th. The positions of Spain, the Czech Republic and Germany are aligned in this position, for the moment , with those of Austria, which last week called for a similar intervention.

All this occurs on the same day that the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, will meet with his German counterpart. On the agenda of both leaders, in addition to this reform of the community electricity market, there is an important point. It is to address the construction of a gas pipeline between the Iberian Peninsula and Germany, so that the German country diversifies its gas supply, which until now depends only on Moscow. France, in principle, has said that it is opposed to this being built through the Prineos and both Spain and Germany are considering doing it through Italy.