Vienna (Reuters) – Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer has spoken out in favor of an EU-wide cap on electricity prices, which have recently risen sharply.
“We must finally stop this madness that is currently taking place on the energy markets,” said Nehammer on Sunday. “And that can only be done with a European solution.” So far, some countries have been skeptical. But he assumes that these concerns could be dispelled. “Something must finally happen now, this market will not regulate itself in its current form,” emphasized the ÖVP politician. He calls for all 27 EU countries to join forces to stop the price explosion immediately. “It’s five past twelve in the energy markets.”
Austria’s government had initially signaled doubts about an electricity price cap. She has since embraced the idea, however, as electricity prices have risen in tandem with soaring gas prices. Austria has traditionally been heavily dependent on Russian gas. When it comes to power supply, however, renewable energies play a major role. “You have to decouple the price of electricity from the price of gas, and it has to approach the actual costs of generation again,” Nehammer explained. “We must not allow Putin to decide on the European electricity price every day.” The exchange price for electricity must fall again. This is immediately necessary for households as well as for business and industry.
According to the Federal Chancellery in Vienna, Nehammer had discussed the issue with other European heads of government such as Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in the past few days. According to information from local government circles, the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, wants to convene a special meeting of EU energy ministers as soon as possible because of the rapidly increasing energy prices.
“We have to convince everyone who still has doubts that this is the way to contain this crisis and save the European economy,” Nehammer continued. “The issue will be on the agenda at the planned special meeting of EU energy ministers.”
(Report by Francois Murphy and Elke Ahlswede. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and the economy) or [email protected] (for companies and markets).)