Portuguese minister for environment and energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, has said today that there are various European mechanisms that could be triggered to help consumers and businesses if gas prices rise by around 70%.
“If we see a gas price rise of around 70%, we won’t even need new European legislation; member states can take action, and they can do so to help consumers and businesses,” she said on the sidelines of a visit to Praia da Vieira, in the district of Marinha Grande, Leiria region.
According to the minister, there are “various instruments ready to be deployed”.
“I worked hard on this European legislation, because I was in the European Parliament during the Ukraine crisis, and one of my tasks was precisely to prepare the gas regulation, the electricity regulation, the design of the European electricity market for crises, and to define criteria for an energy crisis,” she explained.
As Maria da Graça Carvalho concedes, the “greatest difficulty and vulnerability lies precisely in the price of gas” – a fuel “essential for certain industrial sectors”, particularly glass and ceramics.
“Gas also influences the price of electricity”, so if, for example, an energy emergency is declared, “there are possibilities to limit this influence of gas prices on electricity prices”.
Reiterating that the government is prepared for various scenarios, the minister noted that there are important meetings coming next week, where all these matters will be discussed.
Hoping that an “energy emergency does not materialise”, Maria da Graça Carvalho admitted that “if the war does not stop”, decisive action will be needed.
As of today, there does not seem to be much optimism that the war ravaging the Middle East is close to any point of ‘stopping’.
Source material: LUSA
