MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2022) The European Union is determined to reduce the influence of gas prices on electricity prices on its market, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.
"The skyrocketing electricity prices are now exposing for different reasons, the limitations of our current electricity market design. It was developed for completely different circumstances and completely different purposes. It is no more fit for purpose," von der Leyen said during her speech at the Bled Strategic Forum.
She added that the EU needs a new market model that "really functions."
"We, the Commission, are now working on an emergency intervention and a structural reform of the electricity market we need a new market model for electricity that really functions and bring us back into balance," von der Leyen said.
Since 2021, energy prices in Europe have been growing as part of a global trend of post-COVID recovery. After the beginning of Russia's military operation in Ukraine and the adoption of several packages of sanctions against Moscow by the West, fuel prices have accelerated the growth, pushing many European governments to resort to contingency measures.
As part of the fight against the energy crisis and plans to abandon Russian gas, some EU countries, including Germany and France, are looking into restoration of coal-fired power plants mothballed for climate protection reasons. This measure has raised concern among climate activists since it contradicts the European Green Deal, adopted in 2019, which aims to cut carbon emissions and build a resource-efficient and eco-friendly economy.
