Bad blood in Brussels: In the dispute over the right line in energy policy, suspicions about Berlin, Paris and Ursula von der Leyen are making the rounds.
Are the two largest EU countries, Germany and France, also the biggest energy egoists? Corresponding suspicions were circulating in Brussels, while the responsible ministers of the EU states sat down there on Friday to find a common line of solidarity in dealing with the energy shortage.
15 of them had previously spoken out vehemently in a letter to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a general gas price cap. It has priority and is the necessary measure to alleviate inflationary pressures, to address public expectations and to cut additional profits in the energy sector. So far, Germany has presented itself in Brussels as a staunch opponent of this demand. The ministers did not come to a joint decision on the disputed issue, but agreed on electricity saving targets and special levies for those who profited from the energy crisis.
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Berlin is tinkering with a “gas price brake” for its own citizens, but wants to prevent a “gas price cap” at EU level. The difference is not so easy to understand. The CDU MEP Markus Pieper tried it in a statement at the ministerial meeting: “An EU gas price cap for imported gas jeopardizes security of supply. The US LNG (liquid gas, ed.) would go to Asia at the highest world market price. This is where national gas price brakes are needed, which are also to be co-financed from the skimming off of additional electricity profits.”
The Federal Government is also concerned with similar considerations. In Brussels, however, members of the Berlin governing parties argue differently. Rasmus Andresen, leader of the German Greens in the European Parliament, complained that it was not enough “to spend enormous sums of money at national level and at the same time to block similar measures at European level. The federal government must work for an EU-wide gas price brake, coupled with binding savings targets and joint purchasing.” The European SPD said: “So that heating remains affordable, all options for a gas price cap must now be examined.”
In the Union there is not quite a consensus internally. The CSU co-chair of the Union deputies in the EU Parliament, Angelika Niebler, set a different emphasis than her CDU colleague Pieper: “More than half of the EU member states are demanding such a European import gas price cap, which the German federal government in particular has been preventing so far. Temporary gas and electricity price brakes are important in these times to relieve consumers and companies.
The 15 states that voted in favor of the price cap do not seem to have unanimous ideas about it. Session chair Jozef Sikela, Czech Industry Minister, spoke of “technical differences” in their approaches after the ministerial meeting. Commission experts should now explore what kind of price caps or corridors would be possible.
The discussion about this is “in full swing”, reported Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) from the meetings with his colleagues. The sticking point of a fixed price cap is: “If we intervene in the market and there is an undersupply – what then?”. Europe could reach the limits of its resilience if shortages had to be managed, “if politics and no longer the market decided where the energy went”.
Von der Leyen had previously shown restraint on the subject. In their Commission, it was pointed out that a price cap would require a new distribution mechanism within the EU based on joint gas purchases at a uniform price. A kind of European gas allocation office would be necessary.
The EU countries are currently supplying themselves on their own and at different prices on the market. Germany can afford more expensive purchases than some of its other European partner nations. That creates bad blood. The news portal “Politico” quoted anonymous diplomats as accusing the federal government of having warned von der Leyen against getting more involved in a price cap. The report gave the impression that, as a German, the President might be susceptible to selfish suggestions from Berlin. One of his phrases was: “Why it is useful to have a Commission President from your own country.”
An experienced EU diplomat, with whom FOCUS spoke online, considers such accusations to be propaganda: “So far, Ms. von der Leyen has listened to everyone, but not to Berlin.” The President understood that the EU could only afford the desired price cap , if it were the only buyer of gas in the world. “But if you’re one of many, then you have to pay what the market demands.”
France was also among the signatories to the ministerial letter to the President. On this issue, things are at odds with close ally Germany, although Paris and Berlin have promised each other energy policy loyalty and mutual solidarity for the winter.
In the background there are still further disputes about the future of energy supply in Western Europe. According to the judgment of the CSU MEP Markus Ferber, France leaves a very selfish impression: “Countries like France in particular, which have long blocked a better connection from Spain to the rest of the European market, should quickly say goodbye to their national egoism,” demands he.
The Spaniards were early adopters of LPG and have enough suitable terminals and processing capacity to supply other parts of Europe. The Portuguese also have a terminal. Both countries are very interested in building a new pipeline to Western Europe – which France considers superfluous and uneconomical. The French also have terminals for the delivery of LPG by ship. This gives them the reputation of critics for wanting to keep the Iberians at bay as competitors in the distribution business.
The Spaniards are now looking for the support of the gas-scarce Germans in order to persuade the French to change their minds. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez are likely to deal with the topic next week at German-Spanish government consultations. As an alternative to a pipeline through France, a submarine pipeline from Barcelona to Livorno in Italy has already been discussed. However, the vulnerability of such pipelines to attacks has only just been demonstrated in the Baltic Sea – where a new natural gas pipeline linking Norway, Denmark and Poland started work this week.
