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Key issues at stake as EU electricity market reform nears finishing line
(EurActiv, 11 Sep 2023) Analyst Bram Claeys offers a quick side-by-side of the respective positions in the European Parliament and the Council of EU member states as negotiations near the finishing line.
Bram Claeys is senior advisor at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), an independent organisation promoting the transition to clean energy.
Reform of the European electricity market design should enter the final stages ahead of next year’s elections. Will the racers be able to cross the finish line in time? This largely depends on how far removed the positions of team Parliament, Council, and Commission are from each other.
Although political motivations are, as usual, a big factor in the fate of the file, we will not speculate about them here.
The triple whammy of scarce Russian fossil pipeline gas, low hydropower reservoirs in a summer drought, and defect-crippled French nuclear plants pushed energy prices in 2022 to uncharted territory, causing many to call for rethinking the design of European energy markets.
The European Commission eventually presented proposals in March 2023 to improve the electricity market’s functioning. These are not revolutionary but build on the 2019 ‘clean energy package’ to better protect vulnerable consumers, support non-fossil flexible resources, and stabilise prices over the long term.
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EurActiv, 11 Sep 2023: Key issues at stake as EU electricity market reform nears finishing line
