EU demands details of Spain and Portugal’s plan to lower the cost of energy

Spain and Portugal have still not submitted details to the EU of their proposal to lower energy costs

This Monday, May 2, the European Commission called on the governments of Spain and Portugal to formally send them the details of their proposal to limit the price of gas in the electricity market and thus lower the electricity bill. Without this information, it obviously cannot conclude its analysis of the measure.

A spokeswoman for the Community Executive reported, “After the political agreement reached on April 26, the European Commission awaits the detailed measures of Spain and Portugal, which have not yet been formally sent, or in the draft format”.

Adding, “This is essential information, without which the Commission could not conclude its analysis”. She later clarified that “technical contacts will continue on the basis of the information provided by the Spanish and Portuguese authorities”.

The spokeswoman added that Brussels is “committed to assessing urgently whether the Spanish-Portuguese proposal is in line with both the EU State aid rules, and the internal energy market legislation”.

Madrid and Lisbon reached a ‘political’ agreement with the European Commission last week to limit the price of gas in the wholesale electricity market. That agreement must now, however, be formally validated by the Community Competition services.

As detailed in a press conference by Teresa Ribera, the Minister for the Environment, accompanied by Duarte Cordeiro, her Portuguese counterpart, this agreement will be valid for twelve months. The average price of gas during that entire period will be €50/MWh), but, in the beginning, it would be 40/MWh.

Although at first the objective of the Spanish Government was for it to be approved by today’s Council of Ministers, Ribera recognised yesterday that the procedure was most likely to take at least one more week, as reported by larazon.es.

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