The energy crunch will be once again on the agenda of the December European
\nCouncil meeting, senior EU officials announced after last week’s meeting
\ndevoted to this topic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the Commission is
\ntasked with running an analysis on the operation of the European electricity
\nand natural gas market and on the carbon trading market, after several member
\nstates blamed the rise in energy prices on problems in these fields. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nuclear energy is not mentioned in
\nthe Council meeting’s conclusions although it had been included in the original
\ntext. However, countries like France, Romania and others requested the European
\nCommission to rank nuclear energy and gas as transition sources this autumn,
\nuntil clean energy sources will be able to cover most of the Union’s energy
\nneeds. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that if we
\nseek cleaner energy, we need interim solutions. It is very possible and
\ndesirable for renewable sources, including solar energy, wind power and so on,
\nto account for most of the energy output by 2040-2050. But until we get there,
\nour opinion in Romania is that we need to use nuclear power plants, to upgrade them
\nand broaden nuclear power sources. At the same time, Romania needs and is
\ndetermined to use natural gas for heating, for electricity production and for
\nindustry. So we certainly must have nuclear power and gas, the president of
\nRomania Klaus Iohannis said in Brussels, and emphasised that it would be
\nexcellent for these forms of energy to be fundable from EU sources. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The European Commission president,
\nUrsula von der Leyen, seems to have eventually accepted this view, and said
\nafter the meeting that, in the medium and long term, additional steps will be
\nprepared to enhance Europe’s energy independence and resilience. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
She said a stable source, i.e.
\nnuclear power, is necessary, and the role of natural gas as transitional fuel
\nwill be preserved. The Commission will present a draft document in this
\nrespect, von der Leyen said. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
She added that efforts are made to
\nset up a strategic gas reserve and to jointly procure energy. We will step up
\ninitiatives to contact as diverse suppliers as possible. We will diversify
\nsources and speed up interconnection, the Commission president also said. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
EU reference prices for natural gas soared
\nby over 300% since January, because of supply problems and high demand. The hike
\npushed electricity prices in Europe to the highest level in recent times, and
\nthe situation is likely to continue until the end of the year, keeping heating bills
\non the rise. To mitigate the impact on citizens, Romania and other member
\nstates are taking measures to support vulnerable households and struggling companies.
\n(tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EU leaders are looking for solutions to slow down the rise in electricity and natural gas prices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":89986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[37163,29820,28918,30821,30746,34956,30256],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-90189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-bills","tag-electricity","tag-energy","tag-gas","tag-nuclear","tag-power","tag-prices"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n