EC to present proposals for new energy measures on 13 September

BRUSSELS, September 9 — PRIME. European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni confirmed that the European Commission (EC) will present proposals for new energy measures on Tuesday 13 September.

“Next Tuesday, the commission will come out with a proposal to respond to the energy emergency,” he said, arriving at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Prague, which was broadcast on the EC website.

This week, the EC prepared a document for an extraordinary meeting of EU energy ministers, where it outlined a number of emergency and temporary measures that could be tried in the union to alleviate the situation on the energy market. Among them is the introduction of a price ceiling for Russian pipeline gas, the establishment of a mandatory goal to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours. In addition, the EC invited countries to negotiate a revenue cap for companies that produce electricity at low cost and receive high profits because of this. The surplus profits of such firms could be used to help vulnerable EU residents and companies. Measures to support the liquidity of energy supply companies are also proposed for discussion.

These ideas will be considered on Friday by a council of relevant ministers. They will be asked to “identify preferred measures that can be implemented at EU level in a short timeframe to alleviate the burden of high energy prices on citizens, public services, businesses and industry,” according to the materials for the meeting.