EU energy ministers are meeting today in Brussels to try to find an agreement to reduce natural gas demand ahead of winter. The European Commission proposed a voluntary 15% cut across all members - but many countries have rejected the plan | 1/5 #EnergyCrisis
he Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, has proposed 3 changes to the original proposal to win support from the likes of Spain, Italy and Poland. The tweaks water down (a lot) the original proposal, but probably are acceptable to everyone | 2/5 #EnergyCrisis
On the table also, a **very interesting** Greek proposal to create a new pan-European financial mechanism (with EU and national funding) for national reverse auctions to encourage companies to reduce gas and electricity demand (they get paid to consume less) | 3/5 #EnergyCrisis
The Greek non-paper, which was circulated last night in Brussels, offers some striking maths about the impact of rising gas prices: buying 300 bcm, from Aug22 to Mar23, at €80/MWh (the pre-crisis price) costs €267bn; buying the same at €160 costs €533bn | 4/5 #EnergyCrisis
The key on the Greek proposal is the money: if the pan-EU mechanism is funded (in part) by EU money, that means that Germany has to contribute quite a lot to it. Would Berlin want to put money for other EU members to save energy (in theory, helping Germany too)? 5/5 #EnergyCrisis
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