In view of the ever-rising energy prices, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced a reform of the European electricity market.
The Commission is working on “immediate action and a structural reform of the electricity market,” said von der Leyen at an international conference in the Slovenian city of Bled on Monday. The skyrocketing electricity prices are now showing the limits of the “current electricity market design” that was developed for “different circumstances”.
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Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also spoke out in favor of “structural changes” to lower energy prices on Monday. He was open to an energy price brake at European level. The current electricity prices “cannot be justified,” emphasized the chancellor when asked whether he was in favor of price caps.
According to media reports, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) also wants to fundamentally reform the electricity market. In the ZDF “heute journal” Habeck said on Sunday evening that in view of the rising prices on the electricity market “a solution” was being worked on. However, the underlying principle cannot be changed “simply with a snap of the fingers”.
The so-called merrit order principle applies to the European electricity market. This means that the electricity price is determined by the most expensive power plant, which is currently gas-fired power plants.
Southern EU countries such as Spain and Greece have been demanding market intervention for months. So far, however, they have failed, among other things, due to resistance from Germany.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer is calling for electricity prices to be decoupled from gas prices in the EU. The price of electricity must “get closer to the actual costs of generation,” said Nehammer on Sunday.
