Ribera trusts the agreement to reform the EU electricity market despite "critical aspects"

BRUSSELS, June 19 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, stressed this Monday in Luxembourg that she is confident that the Twenty-seven reach an agreement on the reform of the electricity market to resolve this very important proposal before the end of the year despite the fact that there are still open "critical" aspects.

"The equation must be resolved favorably with clear guidance from the Council", stated the minister upon arrival at the meeting with her Energy peers in the Luxembourg capital, where she also highlighted that "it is one of the most relevant pieces of legislation for the operation of the electricity market at a particularly sensitive moment".

Ribera has assured that he is confident of being able to reach an agreement this Monday despite "critical aspects" that are still "open for debate", among which he has cited contracts for difference and capacity markets, in addition to the fact that the countries arrive to the meeting with a horizon that can change depending on your electric mix.

"We all agree on the need to accelerate the transformation of our energy system", acknowledged the minister, who advocates guaranteeing security of supply while abandoning fossil solutions and creating an "attractive" space for investors in energy.

The European Commission presented on March 14 a reform that proposed requiring the use of bidirectional contracts for difference for new investments in generation with low carbon emissions that require public financing in order to stabilize electricity prices and curb excessive income of energy producers.

However, Ribera has indicated that the Swedish presidency of the council has circulated a new proposal in which it raises concerns raised by countries such as Poland, which alludes to security of supply to include coal benefits in this reform.

As the minister has admitted, this text has caught her "by surprise" and she believes that the debate it raises will be "one of the most controversial" at this Monday's meeting: "how to provide comfort to Poland so that it does not put the security of supply, but also how to ensure that there are no mixed signals in the energy market".

"The situation in Poland, apparently, can be delicate due to the security of supply, but this does not mean undermining what we have been doing for a long time," he asserted, referring to the climate objectives and reduction of fossil fuels of the EU.

Likewise, he has mentioned the renewables directive, approved last Friday by the Council, to remind that the EU countries have a "profound and systemic transformation of energy" ahead of him, although he has pointed out that the directive had already been closed previously to influence that it is necessary to be "more scrupulous" with the way in which agreements are reached.