There is the European agreement on the gas price cap. Only Orbán’s Hungary (pictured) is opposed. Italy is celebrating and Putin is furious. “Another impossible mission has been accomplished,” said Jozef Sikela, Czech Industry Minister, the country that currently holds the EU Council Presidency.
After eight months of meetings that ended in black smoke, yesterday was the turning point. In the umpteenth energy council (in which 27 responsible ministers take part), a political agreement was reached on the upper price limit of 180 euros per megawatt hour. The agreement was reached by the European energy ministers with a very large majority, but not unanimously: there is the positive vote by Germany, which gave its approval after long negotiations; on the other hand, there is Hungary, which is against any compromise proposal; Austria and the Netherlands abstained.
«The Energy Council has approved the upper limit for the gas price. It is the victory of the Italian and European citizens who are demanding energy security. It is the victory of Italy, who believed and worked to achieve this agreement». So wrote the Minister for Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto, who led the Italian delegation, in a tweet. While Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, at a meeting with the media in Rome, not only thanked the “preparatory” work of the Draghi government, but also spoke of “a victory built with great patience”. A fight that Italy has continued with determination. I’m very happy”. And it’s true that yesterday’s result was possible after a group of over 15 countries led by Italy, Greece and Belgium put heavy pressure on the Commission to go ahead with the price cap proposal. Quite a different story came from Moscow, which judged the agreement to be “unacceptable”: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the agreement as “distortion of the market” and thus threatened the Russian “reaction”.
Based on the agreement reached, the gas price cap will come into effect on February 15. According to European sources, the difference between the price of the TTF and the global reference indices is 35 euros, as foreseen in the recent proposal of the Czech Presidency. The days on which the price must exceed 180 euros per megawatt hour before the correction mechanism is triggered remain the assumed three days. In addition, “where appropriate, the European Commission may propose amendments” to the Price Cap Regulation “to include derivatives traded on non-regulated markets or to review the elements taken into account for the reference price” of gas. On the impact of the price cap on gas prices, we must await the reactions of the market: in fact, Stefano Besseghini, President of Arera, the public authority that sets energy tariffs, invites us to “evaluate the impact that will arise in the medium-term . Surely the exchange will be toned down in some way ». For Besseghini, 180 euros per megawatt hour remains “a high price compared to the industry price. A price must inevitably be compared with international markets, with LNG there are a whole range of parameters. Finding a balance wasn’t easy. Let’s see how the development will be».
The President of Assolombarda, Alessandro Spada, was also not very enthusiastic. When it comes to the upper price limit, it is “positive that there has been an agreement, but the price remains very high for companies”.