As the European Union looks for solutions to urgently cut record-high electricity prices for consumers, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says untying gas and electricity prices is key.
“The main problem is that the gas price that’s been made for Europe by a man who wants to bring Europe to its knees directly determines the price of electricity,” Simonyte told a joint press conference with the visiting Polish prime minister in Vilnius on September 16.
“I hope a solution will be found to untie electricity prices from gas prices in this period, bearing in mind that gas price are not due to market reasons, but because someone has chosen to manipulate the market for political purposes,” Simonyte said.
She reiterated that the European Commission’s recent proposal to redistribute excess profits of low-cost electricity producers using solar, wind, waste, nuclear or hydropower to consumers did not solve Lithuania’s problem.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was in favour of limiting business profits.
“We have proposed a few changes – to postpone the ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme), for example, for at least twelve months. Let’s not give Pootin an additional instrument to raise our market prices and destabilise our markets,” Morawiecki said.
“The second proposal is to change the price calculation mechanism, as energy states that have resources, they make a lot of profit, and there are also certain companies that, in our opinion, need to be taxed,” the Polish prime minister told the press conference in Vilnius.
Some EU member states, including Lithuania, are calling on Brussels to untie electricity and gas prices to avoid further price increases due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
