Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – After lengthy negotiations between two groups of member states, Italy and the V4 on one side and the Nordic countries on the other, the European Council's conclusions on the ETS (Emissions Trading System) in a single sentence lasting more than six lines manage to satisfy both sides.
"In the context of the ongoing review of the ETS and in support of European industrial competitiveness," reads point 11 of the conclusions released overnight, "the European Council reiterates the urgent need to ensure a well-functioning, transparent and predictable carbon market, effectively protected against carbon leakage, to reduce carbon price volatility and mitigate its impact on electricity prices, while preserving the essential role of the ETS on climate and the energy transition through a market-based price signal for carbon emissions that drives investment and innovation."
The European Council therefore invites "the Commission to update the assessment of all the impacts of ETS 2, in particular with regard to its design and related safeguards," according to the summit conclusions after the lengthy negotiations.
The European Council also invites the Commission "to examine and, where necessary, propose further measures to address the sharp increase in energy prices in the short term, taking into account the specificities of the Member States, including differences in electricity prices."
The Council "underlines that the current situation urgently requires a coordinated European response, based on targeted and temporary measures, taking into account the specificities of individual Member States and safeguarding the single market. It also welcomes the Commission's intention to extend the Temporary Framework for State aid for the most exposed industrial sectors; to develop a short-term framework to optimize the capacity and efficiency of refineries in the EU; and to promote initiatives to aggregate energy demand on a voluntary basis."
On the fight against high energy prices, “I am truly satisfied that we are continuing along the lines we have decided.
"The strategy remains unchanged. Flexibility will be primarily short-term, which the Commission has prepared and is preparing, but there will be no changes to this overall framework, which is an extremely important issue for Finland," Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo commented at the end of the European Council in Brussels, according to an artificial intelligence translation from Finnish.
“I could consider it a victory,” he added, “because Finland has invested billions in clean energy, in its production, in the clean transition, over the course of years, even decades, and going back would be extremely negative for the Finnish economy.
We are clear winners in this race and, and here we had a strong front: the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Germany and, and so it went very, very well.”
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