When the European Union summit is about to be held, many EU countries are constantly disagreeing on how to deal with the energy crisis, and each has put forward different propositions.
Officials from EU member states in charge of European affairs held talks in Luxembourg on the 18th to prepare for the EU summit scheduled to be held on the 20th and 21st. On the issue of gas price caps, the European affairs ministers of Croatia and Lithuania want to set a ceiling on wholesale gas prices. Slovenia’s state secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marko Stučin, said that Slovenia advocates a price cap only on LNG.
On the issue of energy subsidies, Finland and Slovakia have different views. Andrei Stancik, State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, believes that long-term market reforms should be carried out to decouple the price of electricity from natural gas from those of other energy sources, and the EU should provide direct subsidies to consumers and businesses. Finnish Minister of European Affairs Titi Tupleinen said that Finland is ready to limit the price of natural gas “temporarily”, but opposed the payment of subsidies to consumers. “Instead of subsidizing individual households, it is better to increase investment in green energy.”
As the EU’s largest economy, Germany opposes setting a ceiling on natural gas prices and advocates coping with the energy crisis through joint procurement, reducing consumption and increasing supply.
Due to the different energy needs, dependence on suppliers and energy structure of EU member states, and different adjustment capabilities, there have always been differences in the overall energy policy within the EU. On the 12th of this month, the EU energy ministers reached a consensus on the joint procurement of natural gas, but did not reach an agreement on the specific response method.