„Jocurile” din Austria care umflă prețul energiei în România / Comisia Europeană, solicitată să intervină - HotNews.ro Shari Prezz tal-enerġija, Ritratt: Dreamstime.com Energy price, Photo: Dreamstime.com Major energy consumers in Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have sent a joint letter to the Vice-President of the European Commission, the European Commissioner for Energy and the relevant ministers of the three countries, requesting the intervention of European institutions to introduce support measures that would contribute to reducing energy prices in South-Eastern Europe. The main culprit for the high energy prices in this region is Austria, the companies claim. In the letter, three associations of large energy consumers in these countries point out that energy-intensive industries in the region depend on competitive energy prices to maintain their position in both local and international markets and to be able to offer products at reasonable costs, writes the Greek publication Energy Press . The companies accuse Austria of abusing the provisions of EU law, continuously obtaining exemptions from the obligation of free movement of flows through its international interconnections and benefiting from special treatment to the detriment of countries in South-Eastern Europe.Currently, Southeastern Europe faces large price differences compared to Central Europe, mainly caused by the lack of sufficient interconnection between Austria and the eastern countries, which significantly affects Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.What Austria has done since 2020 so farThe companies note that the Austrian system operator APG has requested a derogation from Article 16(8) of Regulation 2019/943. This provision requires Member States not to limit the interconnection capacity made available to the market in order to manage internal congestion. According to the rule, at least 70% of cross-border transmission capacity must be available, while respecting operational security.APG has benefited from this derogation since 2020, but there is no evidence that Austria has implemented solutions to facilitate energy flows, especially on the border with Hungary."This fact negatively affects companies in Southeastern Europe. Repeatedly, during peak periods, the available capacity on the Austria-Hungary connection is reduced to 0 MW, which leads to price increases and creates a clear discrimination of the markets in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. This contradicts the principles of the integration of the European single market and directly affects the competitiveness of the energy-intensive industry in the region," the letter states.Companies ask the European Commission to intervene to reduce prices It-tliet assoċjazzjonijiet ta’ konsumaturi kbar tal-enerġija qed jitolbu lill-Kummissjoni Ewropea biex tistabbilixxi mekkaniżmu temporanju ta’ appoġġ għall-prezzijiet għall-industrija li tuża ħafna enerġija fix-Xlokk tal-Ewropa, sakemm jiġu eliminati l-ostakli fiżiċi li jipprevjenu l-funzjonament tajjeb tas-suq. Fl-istess ħin, il-kumpaniji qed jitolbu l-aċċelerazzjoni tal-iżvilupp u l-modernizzazzjoni tan-netwerks elettriċi ta’ vultaġġ għoli ta’ 400 kV fl-Awstrija u fuq il-fruntiera mal-Ungerija, proġetti li għandhom jiġu kklassifikati bħala ta’ interess komuni għall-Unjoni Ewropea. L-involviment tal-Aġenzija għall-Kooperazzjoni tar-Regolaturi tal-Enerġija (ACER) huwa mitlub ukoll, flimkien mal-Kummissjoni Ewropea, biex jiġu evitati abbużi tad-derogi u biex jiġi żgurat suq ġust u funzjonali għall-Istati Membri kollha. Eks Ministru tal-Enerġija: Dak li qed jiġri issa mhuwiex solidarjetà fi ħdan l-UE Is-sitwazzjoni mhijiex ġdida. Il-Ministri tal-Enerġija tat-tliet pajjiżi ripetutament qajmu l-kwistjoni tan-nuqqas ta’ interkonnessjonijiet bejn l-Awstrija u l-pajjiżi ġirien tagħha fi Brussell. "Iddiskutejt mal-kontropartijiet tiegħi mill-Bulgarija u l-Greċja u qbilt li għandna problema komuni u li se jkollna pożizzjoni komuni quddiem il-Kummissjoni Ewropea rigward il-kwistjoni tal-prezzijiet tal-enerġija, li huma għoljin ħafna f'din il-parti tal-Ewropa. Huwa ċar li s-suq uniku Ewropew iddiżakkoppja," qal Sebastian Burduja, il-Ministru tal-Enerġija dak iż-żmien, f'Settembru 2024 għal HotNews.ro. Skont hu, ir-raġuni ewlenija hija l-konġestjoni tan-netwerk li seħħet fiż-żona ċentrali tal-kontinent, speċjalment fuq il-linji bejn l-Awstrija u l-Ungerija, fejn il-kapaċità ta' interkonnessjoni hija baxxa. "Huwa importanti, fi ħdan l-UE, li nkunu flimkien fi żminijiet tajbin u ħżiena, iżda dak li qed jiġri issa mhuwiex solidarjetà," żied jgħid il-ministru. Aqra wkoll L-UE tfittex soluzzjonijiet għall-prezzijiet għoljin tal-enerġija Ritratt: Dreamstime.com Sors tar-ritratt: Dreamstime