Rocked by its biggest energy shock since the 1970s, Europe is unpicking parts of a two-decade endeavor to foster a competitive market in natural gas.
In coming weeks, the European Union will ask member states for the ability to cap gas prices in extreme market conditions. It wants energy companies to club together to gain price-negotiating clout against overseas exporters. And it is planning a new reference for gas prices in the region.
Leaders of EU member states agreed Friday to push the planned market shake-up forward, asking energy ministers and the bloc’s executive body to hash out concrete decisions on which measures to proceed with and how to put them into effect.
The proposals are laden with caveats that could prevent their activation or blunt their impact. Nonetheless, they would amount to a major intervention in a market that Europe has long strived to crack open to reduce prices, break monopolies and weaken Russia’s grip on its energy. That liberalization was an important part of the bloc’s broader drive to create single markets extending across national borders.
The EU is battling an energy crisis sparked by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Mandatory storage levels, demand targets and levies on energy companies have already been agreed, while governments are spending heavily to shield consumers and businesses.
EU officials say the new steps would curb prices and prepare for a potential emergency. But energy traders, executives and analysts say some steps are irrelevant, while others risk making the situation worse.
“
Jacques Delors
: What must he be thinking?” said
Øystein Kalleklev,
chief executive of
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