The Czech EU Council Presidency wants to reach a deal on gas price cap during the upcoming energy council on Monday, saying it will likely forego consensus and favour qualified majority voting as countries like Germany are not fully on board with the idea.
Following an unsuccessful extraordinary meeting of energy ministers to pass the gas price cap on Tuesday, ministers have decided to reconvene.
Prague wants to conclude its six-month presidency with an agreement on the correction mechanism that should cap the prices in case they pass a threshold, EURACTIV.cz has learnt. The presidency’s latest draft proposes a cap of €220 per MegaWatt-hour (MWh).
“If we do not reach an agreement (on the gas price cap), then we will have to proceed in accordance with the real principles on which the EU is based,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech journalists on Wednesday (14 December) ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels.
“For some time we can strive for unanimous consensus even in cases that require a qualified majority vote,” said Fiala, adding that he prefers consensus.
“However, this cannot be a principle that we hold for the long term because then we would violate the basic principles and treaties on which the EU is based,” he added.
Germany and Netherlands are openly reluctant about the cap. This is also the case for the European Commission, which only proposed the measure in November and after repeated calls from the group of EU member states.
Though the Czech presidency wanted to have all member states on board, it will likely opt for qualified majority voting as the end of its EU term is approaching.
Quoted by Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said he would prefer a consensus solution, though the measure could “probably” Monday “if necessary by majority vote”, he added. (Aneta Zachová | EURACTIV.cz)
Source: euractiv.com
