Spain will seek European Union permission to extend its temporary cap on reference prices for natural gas and coal used by power plants until at least the end of 2024, Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said on Monday, Reuters reported. The so-called Iberian mechanism, in place in Spain and Portugal after the two countries reached a deal with the European Commission in the spring of 2022, is a joint scheme through which fossil fuel plants' power costs are subsidised in a bid to bring down soaring electricity prices.
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European Union lawmakers are poised to toughen up controls over foreign bank branches, which could be forced to become subsidiaries that tie up more capital, lawmaker compromises seen by Reuters showed. The bloc is updating its rules for banks, partly to implement the final leg of post-financial crisis bank capital rules known as Basel III. The move is being closely watched by banks based outside the EU that operate branches in the bloc.
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The tone of the most recent talks between the European Union and Britain on resolving the status of Northern Ireland after Brexit was very positive, giving confidence that a solution will soon be found, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Speaking after meeting her British counterpart James Cleverly in London, she said that war in Ukraine served as a reminder to focus on the most important task of letting people live in peace and freedom.
ExxonMobil is suing the EU in a bid to force it to scrap the bloc’s new windfall tax on oil groups, arguing Brussels exceeded its legal authority by imposing the levy, the Irish Times reported. The lawsuit is the most significant response yet against the tax from the oil industry, which has been targeted by western governments amid a surge in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
European nations reached a deal to cap natural gas prices at €180, ending months of political wrangling over whether to intervene in an energy crisis that has risked pushing the region into a recession, Bloomberg News reported. The so-called gas market correction mechanism — a temporary measure designed to prevent extreme price swings — will apply from Feb. 15, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The European Commission plans to seek feedback on whether the 27-country bloc needs to loosen state aid rules to allow governments to support companies affected by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, Reuters reported. The $430 billion act, which grants consumers tax credits for U.S.-produced electric vehicles (EV) and other green products, has triggered fears it could disadvantage European Union companies and tempt businesses to relocate to the United States.
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The European Commission has demanded that German gas importer Uniper divest its Dutch business to obtain regulatory approval for a rescue deal, German daily Handelsblatt reported, according to Reuters. The European Commission has set itself a Dec. 16 deadline to decide on whether to approve Germany's bailout of Uniper, its biggest gas trader which nearly collapsed after Russia stopped the supply of the fuel, under merger control rules. Uniper's activities in the Netherlands mainly consist of its Maasvlakte MPP 3 hard coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1.07 gigawatt (GW).
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The impact of the European Union’s sanctions on its own economy has so far been largely contained to a few specific sectors, according to an assessment prepared by the bloc’s executive arm, Bloomberg News reported. The restrictive measures have caused supply issues in sectors like wood and precious metals, but wider disruptions have mostly been because of global market trends, Russia’s war in Ukraine and Moscow’s own retaliatory steps.
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The European Union published three draft laws on Wednesday to lift economic growth by deepening its capital market through less reliance on post-Brexit London, cutting red tape on company listings and streamlining insolvency rules. Britain's departure from the EU has forced the bloc to review its reliance on London for clearing trillions of euros in derivatives, EU financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness said. The draft laws form the latest package in the bloc's efforts to build a capital markets union.
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Euro zone gross domestic product (GDP) grew by slightly more than initially estimated, data from the European statistics agency Eurostat showed on Wednesday, with household spending and business investment propping up the economy, Reuters reported. Eurostat said GDP growth in the third quarter was 0.3% in the 19-country euro area in the July-September period from the previous quarter and 2.3% year-on-year, above its flash estimates of 0.2% and 2.1% published in mid-November. Household spending added 0.4 percentage points to euro zone growth and gross fixed capital formation 0.8 points.
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