EU leaders could reasonably be accused of kicking the can down the road on a gas price cap at their summit in Brussels last week. This, of course, is what the EU does when agreement on a full proposal is impossible -– it agrees a bit of it, fudges a bit of it, and promises to keep talking. If this is a slow and frustrating business, then it’s also fair to acknowledge that making energy policy is a complex and convoluted business even when there isn’t a war going on. And as events in Westminster remind us, quick decisions and bold departures don’t always end well. There is a virtue to caution in many areas of policymaking.
The summit was not without significant movement, though. Germany relented on the principle of a gas price cap, though it will reserve judgment on the detail of the proposals, now to be worked out by European Commission officials and the energy ministers of member states who meet in Luxembourg again this week. Germany is understandably nervous that a cap on gas prices could backfire, translating into energy shortages for its gas-hungry industrial sector, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz may insist on another summit next month in order to ensure that Germany is not outvoted on the energy ministers council via majority voting rules.
Other member states are growing impatient, fearful that their populations are facing into a winter of unaffordable heating bills, and lacking Germany’s financial muscle to support householders and businesses.
For Ireland, at one remove from EU gas markets because of our links to the UK, the issue is less existential – though further restrictions on supplies in Europe would inevitably lead to higher prices, and perhaps supply shortages, here too. Preparing for that contingency should be at the very top of the Government’s priorities.
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Whatever the direction of discussions over future weeks, EU energy ministers and heads of government must remember that at this time unity in the face of Russian aggression is paramount. President Putin is using gas supply as a weapon in his war against Ukraine, seeking to weaken EU support for Kiev by imposing hardship on EU citizens. It is vital that he is not successful.
EU governments must protect their citizens from spiralling energy costs by whatever means are necessary. This is not an arcane EU policy discussion about banking regulation, or fishing quotas, or agricultural subsidies: it is an essential front in a struggle against a regime hell-bent on a war of merciless destruction against Ukraine.
Ministers should keep talking, certainly. But they should also cut a deal as soon as they can. As the war in Ukraine heads into its first winter, maintaining EU unity, not just between governments but between citizens and their governments, is essential.