The Portuguese Government said on Tuesday that it expects a rapid approval, in the European Union (EU), of the measures proposed by the European Commission in the energy sector, such as the taxation of extraordinary profits, however, it listed “missing” measures in the Brussels package.
“I think there will be conditions to be approved by the Council [de Energia] September 30, but there are other aspects that are missing in terms of energy and that have to be worked on.”declared the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Tiago Antunes, speaking to Portuguese journalists in Brussels at the end of a General Affairs Council.
On the day that the Prime Minister, António Costa, stated that Portugal will support the European Commission’s proposal to tax at least 33% the extraordinary profits of energy companies, Tiago Antunes pointed out that Portugal has a “general position of support for this proposal “. .”, of the community executive, as in relation to the rest of the suggested measures, although it defends that “there are still issues to be discussed regarding its implementation”.
“As for the specific design of these measures, […] for Portugal it is important to guarantee the flexibility of the Member States in the application of this mixture of measures, guaranteeing compliance with the global objectives that the European Commission intends to achieve with this proposed regulation, but maintaining a certain flexibility because, for example, we already have an Iberian mechanism, which has proven to be successful in reducing the costs of electricity,” he listed.
Tiago Antunes estimates that, at the European Council at the end of October, “this proposal for a regulation that is being debated will, by then, be fully approved and in force.”
‘Give gas’ to gas
As for the measures that are not yet included in the package presented by Brussels, the Secretary of State pointed to “the issue of interconnections” of electricity and gas between Portugal, Spain and the rest of Europe, the need to “advance in acquisitions gas joint ventures”, as happened with the purchase of anti-covid-19 vaccines, “the introduction of price limits on gas”, that is, what is imported from Russia, and also the reform of the current electricity market to have a price breakdown compared to gas
“This is an issue that goes beyond the current package that is on the table, which I think will be approved at the time of the European Council and therefore we believe that the leaders [da UE] they should focus on these or other issues that are decisive in the current energy plan,” he added.
The position comes after, last Wednesday, the European Commission proposed a 33% tax on the extraordinary profits of oil, gas, coal and refinery companies, whose income should be “collected by the Member States and redirected to the energy consumers”, to alleviate prices. .
The accounts of the European Commission show that this measure could result in a total of 25 billion euros for the Member States.
Another of the measures on the table is a mandatory temporary reduction of 5% in electricity consumption at peak times, which are more expensive, and a 10% reduction in demand in general, in order to reduce electricity prices. gas.
The European Commission also proposed, last Wednesday, a temporary ceiling of 180 euros per megawatt-hour for electricity produced without using gas, but from sources such as renewables and nuclear, providing for the collection of income above this limit. .
According to the community executive, this measure could mean a total of 117,000 million euros for the Member States.
Geopolitical tensions due to the war in Ukraine have affected the European energy market, especially since the EU depends on Russian fossil fuels such as gas.
Source: TSF
