Energy ministers of the EU member states were unable to agree on common positions on the reform of the EU energy market on Monday, in particular due to the issue of the future fate of nuclear power plants and subsidies for reserve coal generation.
This was reported by Euractiv.
The reform, which the European Commission proposed in March, aims to prevent a repeat of the situation before the heating season of 2022-2023, when against the background of the break in cooperation with Russia and the global trend towards higher prices for energy sources, prices for European consumers rose critically.
The reform stipulates that preference should be given to long-term contracts and producers using renewable energy sources.
Ministers met in Luxembourg to agree a common position before starting negotiations with the European Parliament.
Swedish Minister Ebba Busch, who chaired the meeting as the representative of the presiding state in the Council of the EU, noted that the negotiations were difficult and the countries agreed on two of the three blocs of the reform.
Two interlocutors of the publication say that this time there is no clear division between the countries, but there are many small "factions" that block this or that issue.
A number of key issues remain unresolved, such as regulation of state support for producers and exemptions for the coal industry. The latter, in particular, is proposed with the argument that Poland, with its stable coal-fired generation, could be a back-up supplier for Ukraine, so it would be possible for it to extend the permission for state subsidies for coal-fired generation until 2028.
Some countries are outraged that this goes against the EU's climate goals.
