The sinews of war remains the price level from which this ceiling would be activated. Several States had criticized the Commission’s initial proposal, considering the proposed threshold (275 euros/MWh over two weeks for one-month TTF contracts) far too high. By the Commission’s own admission, it would not have been activated, as is, during the exceptional surge in prices last summer. Belgium did not hide their disappointment either.
The Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU then took action and proposed changes. The proposal that was circulating on Tuesday afternoon relied on a threshold at “200-220 euros” of MWh, maintained for a few days (three to five) only. Another condition remains a certain gap with world prices, demonstrating that it is indeed on the European market that things are racing, outside of global trends.
But if the mood wasvery positive“in the morning, observes Jozef Sikela, the 27 however did not succeed. There is still”agreement in principle” on several central elements which will be part of the next revision, he specified: the exclusion (initially in any case, specifies Commissioner Kadri Simson) of over-the-counter contracts , the possibility of including other regional exchanges in the mechanism at a later stage (option of “opt in“), an assessment of the impacts in the coming months, before the end of February, and a “reinforcement“of the automatic deactivation of the mechanism”to reassure the States which are concerned about the security of supply“.