Pressure mounts on EU to propose ‘concrete’ response to energy crisis – POLITICO

But the Commission has refrained from formally deploying any EU-wide powers, and on Tuesday the bloc’s energy chief Dan Jørgensen said there was no immediate risk to supply.

Instead, the Commission has highlighted existing long-term plans to diversify supply, reduce demand for fossil fuels and expand homegrown renewables. On Tuesday it also called on member countries to reduce energy bills by cutting domestic energy taxes.

However, countries with fewer resources — and greater electoral pressures — are growing impatient and are seeking to push the Commission to invoke EU-wide emergency powers the bloc used after the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Those powers include relaxing state aid rules to allow subsidies for struggling consumers and businesses, coordinating demand reduction, and imposing a price cap on gas.  There have also been numerous calls to suspend or change the Emissions Trading System, including from Italy — though the EU’s clean transition chief Teresa Ribera ruled that out on Tuesday.

At a meeting of EU leaders on Tuesday evening, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for an acceleration of a planned review of emissions trading. A paper drafted by the European Council ahead of next week’s meeting of EU leaders, obtained by POLITICO, also calls on the Commission to reduce the impact of carbon pricing on electricity prices, “while preserving the essential role of the ETS in the climate and energy transition.”

Italy leads complaints

Italy’s finance minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, was the first to challenge the Commission’s cautious stance, calling on Brussels to wield those post-Ukraine tools at a meeting of finance ministers on Monday.