রবিবার, ০৬ অক্টোবর ২০২৪, ০২:০৭ অপরাহ্ন
সংবাদ শিরোনাম :
১৫ বছরে আস্থাহীনতায় রেমিট্যান্স পাঠাতে আগ্রহ কম ছিল প্রবাসীদের নিজ অবয়বে রূপ নিচ্ছেন দেবী দুর্গা শেরপুর ও ময়মনসিংহে বন্যার অবনতি, ৫ জেলায় জলাবদ্ধতা বিশ্বে বায়ুদূষণের শীর্ষে ভিয়েতনামের হ্যানয় শহর, ১০ নম্বরে ঢাকা গাজায় হামলার বর্ষপূর্তি কাল, বিশ্বজুড়ে যুদ্ধবিরোধী সমাবেশ ইরানে হামলার ঘোষণা নেতানিয়াহুর লেবাননে ৪৪০ হিজবুল্লাহ যোদ্ধাকে হত্যার দাবি ইসরায়েলের পাকিস্তানে সন্ত্রাসীদের সঙ্গে গোলাগুলিতে ৬ সেনা নিহত দেশের ৮ বিভাগেই বৃষ্টির পূর্বাভাস একইদিনে জয় আর্সেনাল, ম্যানসিটি ও লিভারপুলের ইংল্যান্ডের কাছে হার নিগারদের শেষ মুহূর্তের গোলে মায়ামির কষ্টার্জিত জয় শেরপুরে বন্যা পরিস্থিতির অবনতি, মৃত্যু বেড়ে ৭ ডেঙ্গুতে আরও ৫ জনের মৃত্যু, নতুন রোগী ৯২৭ মধ্যপ্রাচ্য প্রবাসীদের জন্য বিমানবন্দরে হবে স্পেশাল লাউঞ্জ

EU leaders struggle for common ground on energy prices

রিপোর্টারের নাম :
আপডেট : অক্টোবর ২০, ২০২২
EU leaders struggle for common ground on energy prices

BRUSSELS, Oct 20, 2022 (AFP) – EU leaders will debate how to handle Europe’s energy shock Thursday, with capitals at loggerheads over imposing a cap on gas prices pushed skywards by the war in Ukraine.

The bloc’s 27 member states have been squabbling for months over measures to lower energy bills, and will arrive at their Brussels summit in a dark mood.

Countries such as Italy are pushing hard for a swift and ambitious cap on prices, in the teeth of opposition from Germany, the EU’s biggest economy.

“Seven months of delay has brought us a recession,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told his counterparts at a summit earlier this month, according to an official with knowledge of the matter.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has tried to satisfy the diverging views with a series of proposals that it hopes will help Europeans pay for their heating as winter approaches.

The push for a common approach has been further hampered by discord between France and Germany, which burst into the open Wednesday when they delayed a regular meeting between cabinet ministers.

Breakthroughs in the EU are difficult to achieve when the bloc’s biggest powers do not see eye to eye.

“There has been a lot of progress, but no fundamental breakthrough,” a senior EU diplomat involved in the negotiations said ahead of the two-day summit.

“Priorities differ: Germany has chosen security of supply because it can afford the high prices, but many countries cannot keep up with the cost,” the diplomat added.

The Commission’s proposals include an idea to allow joint purchases by the EU energy giants in order to command cheaper prices to replenish reserves.

– ‘Slow and painstaking’ –

Another proposal is to give the Commission the power to establish a pricing “corridor” on Europe’s main gas index to intervene when prices get out of control.
Meeting in Brussels, the EU leaders will haggle over the Commission’s proposals, with some countries seeking something much more far-reaching than what is on offer.

“We should not have to ask the Commission four times for the same thing in order to have a proposal,” Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera told AFP ahead of the summit.

“It is frustrating to see how slow and painstaking Europe’s response to the challenge we face is,” Ribera said.

A big problem is the link in Europe between gas and electricity prices. Under EU rules, a gas price index helps set the price of electric power across the continent.

But the index has skyrocketed since Ukraine was invaded by Russia, the country that supplied 40 percent of the EU’s gas imports before the war.

Several countries are calling for an exception to the gas price mechanism.

This was already granted to Spain and Portugal earlier this year, giving them freer rein to keep electricity prices lower despite surging prices.
Germany opposes this idea, arguing that cheaper gas will dissuade users from cutting back on their energy use.


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