Most, if not all, EU member states are troubled by a European Commission decision reached earlier this month to not permit extensions of emergency energy-crisis measures beyond March, 2024, as they still do not feel secure enough to be left without market protection, despite the drop in natural gas prices at the TTF index to relatively normal levels.

A number of EU member states, among them Spain, Portugal and Romania, have already decided to extend their emergency measures until the end of 2023. Greece has extended its emergency measures until September.

Meanwhile, European energy companies are applying pressure on their respective governments, as well as the EU’s leadership, to lift the range of energy-crisis protection measures introduced over the past year to year-and-a-half in order to rid themselves of market distortions and side effects.

Electricity companies feel that prices have returned to satisfactory levels and are convinced measures such as a price cap on the remuneration of electricity producers are now proving detrimental.

EU member states are not expected to reach any new decisions during summer but will reassess their respective situations as of September. Their governments generally believe energy prices remain susceptible to the slightest of market adversities, as was the case recently, towards mid-June.