Eurelectric Comments on the Commission Report on Council Regulation 2022/2576

KEY MESSAGES

Following Article 30 of the Council Regulation 2022/2576 “enhancing solidarity through better coordination of gas purchases, reliable price benchmarks and exchanges of gas across borders”, the Commission published on September 28th a report “on the main findings of the review of Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2576 of 19 December 2022, in view of the general situation of the gas supply to the Union.”

The Commission report aimed at assessing the results of the Council Regulation and envisage the possible extension/integration in other texts of some of the measures. For this reason, Eurelectric would like to comment on certain conclusions which, in our view, deserve more consideration.

• Firstly, even if it is premature to comment on the real results obtained from the joint purchase of gas triggered in April, Eurelectric has doubts about the added value of this platform, both concerning its impacts on prices and its ability to attract new LNG volumes.
In any case, the Commission should release some fact-based info or data on the deals or transactions effectively concluded in the frame of this joint purchasing scheme. Since the purpose of the Aggregate EU was not to mobilise demand per se, we consider that more data
should be provided on the contracts actually signed. This is necessary to assess the real effectiveness of the instrument and to allow a sound and accurate assessment of the value delivered by the platform based on concrete and fact-based results.

• Secondly, the joint purchase of gas was a temporary instrument conceived for emergency situations and should not be institutionalised. Hence, it should not be enshrined in the Hydrogen and Decarbonised Gas Market package. Moreover, if so, it should be preceded by a
deep and fair impact assessment, namely on the potential additional benefits of this platform to the mechanisms already in place, together with a wide public consultation.

• Lastly, while not being a major concern, Eurelectric does not see the need to continue using the LNG benchmark and the related LNG transaction reporting process. Looking at only EU transactions, this tool revealed itself as not fit for the reality of the LNG market, which is a global market where Europe takes part via transactions with non-EU stakeholders. In addition, the LNG benchmark does not bring new value on top of the numerous existing LNG indexes in place in Europe.