EU leaders met in Brussels on Thursday to try to hammer out a common response to the energy surge, an equation complicated by the increasingly visible divide between Paris and Berlin. The war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia have caused a shock to the prices of oil, gas and electricity. But, since February, Europe has reacted slowly, weakened by the divergent interests of member countries.
The Franco-German couple, the engine of European cooperation, seems to have broken down. A meeting of ministers from the two countries, scheduled for October 26 in Fontainebleau (France), has been postponed to January. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Berlin was playing a lonely score, seeming to blame the Germans for Europe’s difficulties. “I think it’s not good for Germany or for Europe that it isolates itself (…). Our role is to do everything so that there is European unity and that the ‘Germany is part of it’he said.
“It is very clear that Germany has always acted in a very united way,” replied Olaf Scholz. The chancellor had been accused of selfishness following announcing at the end of September a support plan of 200 billion euros for the German economy, not concerted with its partners. The two leaders saw each other one-on-one just before the meeting of the Twenty-Seven. Progress has been announced on an infrastructure project that has been stalled for years.
France, Spain and Portugal have announced an agreement to replace the MidCat project with an undersea pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille, intended to transport gas and then green hydrogen. Initially launched in 2003, the MidCat project (abbreviation of Midi-Catalonia), was defended by Lisbon, Madrid and Berlin, but came up once morest opposition from Paris. It aimed to link the French and Spanish gas networks via a 190 kilometer pipeline from Hostalric, north of Barcelona, to Barbaira, east of Carcassonne, passing through the Pyrenees.
Companies under threat
Brussels has launched a series of initiatives to reduce energy consumption, lower prices and ensure its security of supply, but the difficulties persist. There is, however, an emergency, with thousands of European companies who fear for their survival, threatened by competition in the United States or in Asia where prices have remained wiser. Several diplomats expect very long discussions, extending into the night, between the 27 heads of state and government.
In an interview with AFP, the Spanish Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, openly criticized the work of the European Commission.
“The proposals are still a little timid: we still lack concrete measures on a large majority of subjects. There has certainly been a real effort for a year (…) but it is frustrating to see how much the reaction of Europe in the face of the challenge we face is slow and laborious”did she say.
The Iberian model in sight
But the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen is faced with disagreements between the Twenty-Seven who each have their own energy mix, some relying on nuclear power, others on gas or even coal to produce their electricity. . They are divided in particular on the question of a cap on the price of gas used to produce electricity. A device of this type is already applied in Spain and Portugal, where it has helped to bring prices down. Several countries, including France, are asking for this mechanism to be extended, says “Iberian“, EU-wide.
But Germany opposes it, as well as several Nordic countries, including Denmark and the Netherlands, reluctant to state intervention in the markets. Berlin believes that artificially lowering the price of gas would undermine the objective of energy sobriety, by encouraging people to consume more. However, draft conclusions from the summit called on the Commission to prepare a proposal for this instrument. “The Iberian model deserves to be studied. Questions remain unanswered, but I do not want to overlook any leads,” Ms von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
Mrs von der Leyen detailed this week other proposals: joint purchases of gas, new rules to try to impose the sharing of gas in Europe to help the countries most in difficulty, or even a reform of the TTF gas market index (the European “Gas Exchange”), used as a benchmark in operator transactions.