uIn order to reduce the high electricity bills of consumers in Europe, the EU Commission is proposing state price limits and an excess profit tax. This came from a paper on „Emergency Interventions in the Electricity Market” that was made available to AFP. At a meeting of the leaders of the union’s parliamentary group in Murnau, Upper Bavaria, von der Leyen said on Friday: „I am absolutely convinced that now is the time to set the price of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe.”
A reliable supply from Russia is no longer guaranteed anyway. And she stressed that Russian President Vladimir „Putin prefers to ignite the gas than deliver it to Europe under the contract.”
Because of the massive increase in energy prices, the von der Leyen Authority wants to „improve the performance of European electricity markets and reduce the impact of gas prices on consumer prices,” the 23-page paper states. It serves as a model for the emergency meeting of European Union energy ministers next Friday in Brussels.
In concrete terms, member states should be given the opportunity to use a price cap to cut off the profits of electricity producers who currently produce particularly cheaply and who benefit from the effective linkage of the electricity price to the massive increase in gas prices. in Europe. According to the authority, this includes producers of green electricity, operators of nuclear power plants and lignite. Governments can then pass the excess profits on to consumers.
Von der Leyen called for the partial dispensation of „excessive profits” from electricity producers „in order to support small incomes and vulnerable companies precisely in times of expensive electricity”.
German Green Party spokesman in the European Parliament Rasmus Andersen has called on Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) to drop his „blockade” against excess profits tax, as demanded by SPD politicians. Meanwhile, he called on the EU Commission to make its proposals legally binding. In the strategy paper, the Brussels Authority leaves this open. Andersen criticized the big energy companies making „exorbitant profits” while millions of people are wondering how to get through the winter.
The Parliamentary Director of the CDU/CSU Group in the European Parliament, Markus Bieber (CDU), also described the Commission’s plans as „effective relief for private electricity customers and the economy”. However, he cautioned that market interventions should „remain a temporary emergency tool”.
In the medium term, von der Leyen also wants to „look at the design of the electricity market,” she said in Bavaria. Countries such as France, Spain and Greece are demanding that the price of electricity be separated from the price of gas. But the committee chair cautioned that this was „too complicated”. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) called for „structural changes” in the energy market this week and hoped for a relatively quick reform of the European Union.