The Government is working to be able to approve the mechanism this Tuesday or “as soon as possible”
The European Comission has given the green light this Monday to the Iberian proposal to put a maximum ceiling on the price of gas, according to the Portuguese Prime Minister, Anthony Costa, and sources from the Spanish Government have confirmed. Spain is working to be able to approve the measure in the Council of Ministers that is being held this Tuesday or, failing that, “as soon as possible”, according to these same sources.
“This morning the European Commission gave the green light to Portuguese and Spanish proposal to avoid contamination of the price of electricity due to the rise in gas. It is a far-reaching measure,” Costa told Portuguese journalists in Strasbourgat the exit of the Conference on the Future of Europe, according to EFE.
“We are in this moment coordinating with the Spanish Government how we approve the respective legislation, and we will do everything to be able to do it tomorrow”, he added. The Portuguese Prime Minister explained that Spain normally meets its Council of Ministers every Tuesday and that the Portuguese Executive intends to do so on that day as well. “We’ll do a extraordinary advice to approve this measure and for it to come into force simultaneously throughout the Iberian Peninsula,” Costa explained, according to EFE.
The governments of Spain and Portugal they arrived on April 26 to a “political agreement & rdquor; with the European Commission on a proposal to bump the price of gas in the wholesale market in the 50 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) during twelve monthsas announced then from Brussels by the third vice president and minister of ecological transition, Theresa Riveraand its Portuguese counterpart, Jose Duarte Cordeiro.
The intention of the Spanish Executive was to approve the mechanism in the Council of Ministers that was held last week, but it could not be because there were still some “details” to be finalized, as Ribera herself acknowledged last Monday. This Monday, however, the third vice president did not rule out in statements to Spanish Television that the measure could be approved at the meeting of ministers this Tuesday, in the absence of “some questions”.
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“We have been working all weekend with our colleagues from Portugal and with our colleagues from the European Commission”, acknowledged Ribera, after adding that the ‘ok’ would arrive “as soon as possible”. “If we arrive on time tomorrow, tomorrow; but immediately after. As soon as we have finished putting together all the technical aspects that allow us to make this decision operational”, he added.
With this limit of 50 euros MWh on average (initially it would be 40 euros MWh) for gas, well below the 84 euros set this Monday, the aim is to reduce the price of electricity in the wholesale market. In total, about 35% of the domestic consumers –those with a regulated rate (PVPC)– and 70% of industrial consumers who buy their energy directly in this market will notice a reduction in their bill of 30% on average, as revealed a week ago by the vice president herself.