PRAGUE/BRUSSELS, Dec 9 (Reuters) – European Union international locations are making ready for extraordinary negotiations on Saturday geared toward finalising a deal on a fuel value cap that has divided the 27-country bloc.
EU states have debated for months whether or not capping fuel costs would assist or hurt their makes an attempt to comprise an power crunch triggered by Russia slashing fuel deliveries to Europe, which has pushed up gasoline prices and stoked inflation.
The European Fee proposed a value cap final month, and EU international locations are aiming to agree on the cap at a Dec 13 assembly of their power ministers in Brussels.
However with days to go, international locations nonetheless seem deeply divided, with some EU officers sceptical {that a} deal may be reached subsequent week.
Round 15 states together with Italy, Poland and Belgium have stated they need an EU-wide fuel value cap, whereas a smaller camp together with Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark are opposed.
After initially calling for a cap, France has this week signalled it’s involved by the potential fallout in monetary markets, two diplomats accustomed to EU international locations’ negotiations informed Reuters.
The European Central Financial institution warned on Thursday the EU proposal might jeopardize monetary stability and wanted to be redesigned.
A shift in France’s stance might complicate the controversy additional.
There are at the moment sufficient international locations in favour of a value cap to formally approve the measure, but when France left that camp, sceptical states might have sufficient help to dam the transfer.
“We now have two blocking minorities, for and in opposition to,” a senior official from the Czech EU presidency stated on Friday, including that the choice might need to be escalated to a Dec 15 summit.
EU nation diplomats assembly on Saturday will talk about a brand new draft compromise proposal for the worth cap.
That proposal, dated Dec. 9 and seen by Reuters, would see the cap triggered if costs exceeded 220 euros per megawatt hour for 5 days on the front-month contract within the Dutch Title Switch Facility (TTF) fuel hub, and had been additionally 35 euros greater than a reference value for liquefied pure fuel (LNG) based mostly on current LNG value assessments.
That’s decrease than the 275 eur/MWh restrict proposed by the Fee, though it’s not as little as some international locations together with Poland say the cap ought to be.
The newest proposal, which might nonetheless be modified, stated as soon as triggered, the cap would apply for a minimum of 20 buying and selling days until the European Fee takes an emergency resolution to droop it.
Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Kate Abnett, writing by Kate Abnett; modifying by John Stonestreet
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