The proposed reform foresees revisions to several pieces of EU legislation – notably the Electricity Regulation, the Electricity Directive, and the REMIT Regulation. It introduces measures that incentivise longer term contracts with non-fossil power production and bring more clean flexible solutions into the system to compete with gas, such as demand response and storage. This will decrease the impact of fossil fuels on the consumer electricity bills, as well as ensure that the lower cost of renewables gets reflected in there. Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES) holds a press conference on the reform of the electricity market design. The transcript is the result of an automated process. Please check against delivery.

Brussels

press conference

energy union (T)

GONZÁLEZ CASARES, Nicolás (S&D, ES)

Press conference by Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), rapporteur on the reform of the electricity market design

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicol&aacute;s GONZ&Aacute;LEZ CASARES (S&amp;D, ES), Rapporteur, Thank you too much, I will speak in Spanish. We had a broad majority for the adoption this morning. I think Parliament is sending out a signal. It is showing its capacity to be able to work, to reach agreements in a rapid way. So, this was done very quickly even before Council. So, let me start by thanking the other political groups and the shadow rapporteurs.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, Perhaps, I could just recall the situation. The Commission presented this report earlier in the year. We started work on the 11th of April. On the 12th of May, I had already presented my position in the Committee 23rd to the rest of the MEPs and then six weeks later we managed to reach broad agreement with the EPP, Renew and the Greens. The four main political groups in this Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, Today, ITRE endorsed this agreement. So, in a just a three month period, Parliament has reached its position on an extremely complex proposal in record time. So, I think we're sending out a very clear signal that this Parliament can work on very complicated files in a rapid way.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, We don't always want to use Article 822 as was used in the crisis. I think we show that we can work quickly in a proper way and more rapidly than the Council without abusing the use of 822, which I think we've shown is not necessary.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, Now, as a Rapporteur, I had three main objectives at the beginning that Europe and its citizens would not be left without defences when facing an energy crisis. We didn't want European European citizens to face these peak prices.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, There's been social and economic consequences, an increase in inflation, and to a large extent this was caused by turbulences in the electricity market. Thirdly, we also wanted to improve Europe's competitiveness by having more stable prices and more competitive prices for electricity through the use of renewables as well.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, So, we have new rights here. For example, the right to share energy that is greater protection for consumers. There are a number of strict measures so that vulnerable consumers cannot be disconnected or subjected to energy poverty. We have a specific article that sets out when there will be a crisis in energy prices.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, There are clear criteria set out as opposed to the Commission proposal and also concrete measures that can be adopted in these particular cases. We have the PPAs contracts, we have the power purchase agreements as well, which help with the stability of prices in the medium and the long term to ensure that there is stability for consumers, but also for those companies who are producing their electricity. So, that they can work with these certainties in the medium and long term.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, So, this is a reform that perhaps wasn't completely in-depth, but I think we have covered the fundamental aspects of this market and we have corrected the specific causes that led us to the crisis. When it comes to the Article 66A measures in terms of a price crisis, the Member States will be allowed to to help houses, households and SMEs more in terms of prices. It's not the best proposal, but it's an improved proposal.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, There's an obligatory declaration when the criteria is fulfilled. Apart from exceptional circumstances, we have clear criteria that have been increased for retail prices, consumer prices, and we have taken out the subjective criteria.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, The impact on the economy that was proposed by the Commission, something that is often seen after the fact when time has already passed and that limits our ability to act on the crisis is actually occurring. So, this has been taken out and we have deleted this.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, We also have the possibility to put in place specific prices for more electro-intensive industries. The objective of the reform is not just to tackle crisis situations. We also want to send out the message that the market can be stable and we have looked at bilateral contracts, the PPAs, and the contracts for difference, the CFD.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, When it comes to the PPAs, we wanted to eliminate obstacles for the Member States. We wanted to focus more on renewable energy. We wanted to create a European Union database to facilitate the collection of data on the PPAs.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, So, we would have information on these bilateral contracts. We will have a European guidelines for the purpose. There will be a voluntary platform as well for those involved in the purchasing through the PPAs. That will be particularly helpful for the small consumers who have difficulty accessing these market instruments. We also don't want to see fossil fuels being supported through the PPAs.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, When it comes to the contracts for difference, the CFDs, says one of the key points of this proposal. I think it's absolutely key to stabilise prices, to increase investments. It means more stable prices for those generating the energy, but it will also facilitate more price stability with certain price caps. They'll be a ceiling in place.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, There are many different types of renewable sources mentioned, including nuclear energy as well. When it comes to generation of energy, we're talking about investment in new energy facilities. That will help also to optimise existing energy installations or to expand existing energy installations.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, We will have a substantial increase in the capacity of energy production. When we look at the coverages of these safeties for these types of installations, it will have to be in proportion to the investment that is put in, looking at the overall cost of the investment.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, When it comes to the profits from the revenue from the CFD, this is something that is problematic in negotiations with Council. But in Parliament we managed to come to agreement with regards to these revenues. We would like a special focus for those who are more vulnerable when it comes to the redistribution of these potential revenues from CFDs, and also that they can be used to help finance the energy tradition for electricity, for electricity networks, for electro intensive industries, also under certain circumstances.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, When it comes to consumer protection, this is something which I think is key as part of this reform and the new rights that exist. I thought it was very important to increase protection for consumers, and that's something that we achieved. We managed to reinforce the existing protection and ensure that Member States would ban any kind of disconnection for vulnerable consumers, that's Article 28 A, although suffering from energy poverty.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, So we're sending out a very strong social message. It really couldn't be any other way. Coming from the group of socialists in the European Parliament. We have always fought for the protection of the most vulnerable and here we are showing that. We have also improved the right to share energy so consumers can share and sell renewable energy, for example, solar energy through their solar roof panels.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, Now, it was not an easy negotiation, but we saw that there was a risk that third parties could perhaps exploit this situation by aggregating consumers and exploit this right to produce energy in this way. I think we have managed to resolve these particular concerns. We have tried to make sure that this right will be used in a more decentralised way.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, And we have also protected the smaller companies involved or individual households that want to use this particular right. We also have a European system of subsidies for renewables that the European Commission will be putting in place. The directive on renewables was recently agreed and it states that by 2030 it would be 42.5% and up to 45%.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, What we want to see is that that 2.5% potential difference will be stimulated through the use of subsidies and that will help us to achieve our climate goals. On the peak saving in the virtual hubs as proposed by the Commission we have not completely put them to one side, but we would like to receive more information. It's important to carry out the proper evaluation and impact studies.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, We didn't have a consensus amongst the political groups or amongst the stakeholders as to whether this would be necessary or not, and we felt that there was more information required and we didn't think it was right to make that decision at the moment. So that is the general information on what we have agreed.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, I think with today's vote, after the vote, we will now move on to the interinstitutional negotiations. After the approval of the European Parliament plenary, I hope that will be the case, and then we can begin negotiations with the Council as soon as possible once they have agreed their position.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES (S&D, ES), Rapporteur, Obviously there is the summer break, but from September we are available and willing to work and we hope that we can conclude this reform as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of this year. But what's key is that we agree this before the end of the legislative period. Thank you very much. And I'm not available for questions.

Q&A, Question regarding the cap on energy revenues in 2024.

Q&A, Question about the possible problems which might arise in the negotiations with the Council.

Q&A, Question regarding the price support schemes Member States might implement.

Q&A, Question about the changement in the Commission proposition about nuclear energy.