English Version :
No agreement was reached on an EU proposal to introduce a Gas Price Cap after a marathon meeting of the Energy Council held in Brussels. Malta’s Minister for Energy Miriam Dalli attended the meeting. While EU countries hoped to reach an agreement on a proposal to control the price of gas used for electricity generation, positions remain divergent, making it difficult to reach an agreement on all aspects of the regulation.
EU energy ministers discussed at length the introduction of a gas price cap for electricity following the spike in gas prices across Europe. The price at which the cap – referred to as ‘market corrective mechanism’ – would be triggered was the main point of concern that the member states could not agree on.
Minister Miriam Dalli stated that while progress was being made on a number of issues, the value at which the Presidency is proposing to trigger such a mechanism is still very high. Malta’s position is shared by another 14 member states.
“Having a trigger with a high value will not calm the markets but instead will signal to the markets to increase the price when we want to achieve exactly the opposite. Ultimately, we want to have a system that reduces the price of gas used for electricity”, stated Minister Miriam Dalli.
Following the lack of agreement during this extraordinary Energy Council, the EU energy ministers agreed to meet again and continue the discussions.
Maltese Version
Sa issa, ma jintlaħaqx ftehim dwar gas price cap tal-UE
Waqt laqgħa tal-Kunsill tal-Enerġija li ħadet sigħat, ma ntlaħaq l-ebda qbil dwar proposta tal-Unjoni Ewropea sabiex jiġi introdott limitu fuq il-prezz tal-gass. Għal-laqgħa straordinarja fi Brussell attendiet il-Ministru għall- Enerġija Miriam Dalli.
Filwaqt li l-pajjiżi tal-UE kienu qed jittamaw li jintlaħaq ftehim dwar il-proposta biex ikun kontrollat il-prezz tal- gass użat għall-elettriku, il-pożizzjonijiet tal-istati membri għadhom differenti wisq, b’konsegwenza li kien diffiċli biex jintlaħaq kompromess fuq l-aspetti kollha tar-regolament.
Il-ministri tal-enerġija tal-UE iddiskutew fit-tul l-introduzzjoni ta’ limitu massimu fuq il-prezz tal-gass għall- elettriku, wara ż-żieda fil-prezzijiet tal-gass madwar l-Ewropa. Il-livell tal-prezz li bih jiġi attivat il-limitu massimu – magħruf bħala ‘il-mekkaniżmu korrettiv tas-suq’ – kien il-punt ewlieni ta’ tħassib li l-istati membri ma setgħux jaqblu dwaru.
Il-Ministru Miriam Dalli sostniet li filwaqt li kien irreġistrat progress fuq numru ta’ kwistjonijiet, il-valur li bih il-Presidenza qed tipproponi li tiskatta l-mekkaniżmu għadu għoli ħafna. Il-pożizzjoni ta’ Malta hija l-istess bħal dik ta’ 14-il stat membru ieħor.
“Li jkollok mekkaniżmu li jiskatta b’valur għoli mhux se jikkalma s-swieq iżda minflok ikun qed jagħti sinjal lis- swieq biex iżidu l-prezz – meta rridu niksbu eżattament l-oppost. Fl-aħħar mill-aħħar irridu li jkollna sistema li tnaqqas il-prezz tal-gass użat għall-elettriku,” qalet il-Ministru Miriam Dalli.
Wara n-nuqqas ta’ qbil waqt dan il-Kunsill tal-Enerġija straordinarju, il-ministri tal-enerġija qablu li jerġgħu jiltaqgħu u jkomplu bid-diskussjonijiet.