The European Commission has committed itself to come up with several proposals on lowering energy prices, Romania's President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday, after participating in an informal meeting of the European Council.
He added that Europe fails to be as competitive as the United States or China, due to its higher energy prices.
"The commission has committed itself to come up at the next council meeting, in over a month, with some scenarios on the pricing mechanism, and we will debate these scenarios. There has been a lot of discussion about the ETS mechanism, i.e. the prices that companies pay when they emit carbon into the atmosphere, where the discussions were quite blunt between ETS supporters, who have developed their production industry on renewables, and countries that have not done it at the same level and suffer, such as Romania. So, we will have an interesting debate in June, when we will completely rediscuss the regulation. In any case, everyone agreed that part of the price increase comes from speculators operating on the certificate market, who should not be admitted into the system," Dan told a news conference after the informal retreat of European Council leaders, which took place at Alden-Biesen Castle in Belgium.
He said that at European level there are a majority of member states that want investments in an electricity network, with a single market and a uniform price all over the EU territory.
"With some reluctance on the part of some countries that produce cheap energy, especially from renewables, there is a majority that wants Europe to invest in a real electricity grid, so that we really have a single market and a uniform price on the territory of the Union for electricity."
In another development, the commission is expected in April to suggest a single system under which companies can register in any member state.
"The commission has committed itself to come up with a proposal in April this year for the so-called 28th regime for companies, that is a single system through which companies can register anywhere in Europe and also with the promise from everyone that this debate will end at the end of 2026."
The president also said that the leaders of the EU member states do not want a "protectionist" market, but that Europe must respond "to certain non-competitive practices" to protect its economic sectors.
"There was an agreement of all the participants, in the sense that we do not want a market that is protectionist in Europe. Instead, in response to certain non-competitive practices, Europe needs to respond very quickly to protect certain sectors of its economy."
Dan also said that representatives of the economic community from all over Europe rightly complain about bureaucracy.
"One of the examples - the money that companies in Europe spend on complying with different rules is twice as much as the money that companies in Europe pay for research and development. And that, of course, is uncompetitive," said Dan.
Also discussed were boosting artificial intelligence, the aerospace industry and cybersecurity.
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