The 27 agree to limit the benefits of energy and reduce electricity consumption

• War The EU launches an eighth round of sanctions on Russia: a cap on oil and a ban on Europeans on the boards of its public companies

• Energy Germany will impose a ceiling on the price of gas with subsidies worth 200,000 million euros

The energy ministers of the European Union reached a political agreement this Friday on the regulation that will come into force in the coming weeks to reduce electricity consumption and tax or limit the extraordinary profits of energy companies.

The general lines were already known, since they were announced by the European Commission during the speech on the State of the EU, in Strasbourg, two weeks ago, but the capitals had to discuss it, debate it, polish it or tweak it.

Thus, for example, although the spirit remains intact, it is made clearer that each Member State

(such as reduction, the Iberian mechanism or own taxes) and fulfill the same function as those now promoted.

And on the other hand, the thorny question of whether or not to put a cap on the price of gas that comes from abroad, especially Russian, is left for a little later.

Today's is a political agreement, but technically

.

In the European Union, the legislative initiative lies with the Commission, which made its proposal two weeks ago and outlined it on Wednesday in what is known in community jargon as a 'non-paper', a working document to promote discussion.

The ambassadors have been analyzing it ever since, today the ministers have given political support and it will be the Commission again, next week, that launches its legislative text, which will have to be ratified by the 27 capitals, but in theory as a mere formalism.

Simultaneously, Brussels will have to continue working on additional ideas, since what has been launched is not enough.

The idea is clear.

The pact is to reduce (voluntarily) electricity consumption by 10% in the medium term, but up to 5% in peak hours on a mandatory basis.

Likewise, a cap is placed on the extraordinary benefits of inframarginal energies (such as renewables or nuclear) and a

because in theory it is temporary and not permanent (which required processing it by another means and unanimity ) also to the profits of fossil fuel companies above certain thresholds.

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Energy crisis.

The European Commission expects that 140,000 million will be raised with the 'cut' to the extraordinary benefits of energy companies

• Drafting: PABLO R. SUANZES(Special Envoy)Strasbourg

The European Commission expects that 140,000 million will be raised with the 'cut' to the extraordinary benefits of energy companies

Spain is more or less satisfied with the result, because it recognizes that the insistence that Moncloa has maintained for a year made sense, but it wanted more.

What the regulation establishes

, which limits the price of gas in energy production, since in fact it is not a mechanism but rather a cap.

But it is an acknowledgment that the Spanish position, long ridiculed, has now become the center of the debate.

The proposal is more similar to the reduction imposed at the beginning of the year in our country, which absorbs the benefits of all contracts closed above 67 euros Mw/h.

Brussels extends it for everyone, but with a threshold of 180 euros, which they do not understand in Moncloa.

Vice President Teresa Ribera said this Friday upon her arrival at the meeting in Brussels that there was "disappointment" with the Commission's proposal, since "it falls short of what Europe needs."

The vice president's complaints are concentrated mainly on two points.

The cap of 180 euros per mw/h established by

's team and the refusal to go for a general cap on gas coming from outside the EU.

The Commission clearly wanted one for Russian gas, but not for countries that, like Norway or Algeria, are compensating for what is no longer bought from Russia.

Spain and 14 other countries, on the other hand, demanded to go further.

These 15 have recently signed a joint letter asking for a cap, and insisting that there are different ways to do it.

The Commission, supporting the other 12 partners, believes however that putting a cap on the gas imported by the Union, both by pipeline and by sea, is

.

It would anger the suppliers and could cause the one that arrives by sea to end up in other destinations.

Spain and its allies are disappointed because there is not even an idea, and they consider that although this supply risk is real, the risk of maintaining the prices that citizens are now paying, five or 10 times higher than in recent years, is even greater.

"I have the impression that the European Commission has got the message. The origin of the problem is the price of gas and it is true that choosing the most effective tools is not easy and an analysis of the causes behind it was needed," he said. said Ribera at the end of the meeting.

"There has been almost unanimous majority support for the need to adopt urgent measures. There are operational measures that everyone supports, such as changing the references, the price indicator that is used in the EU now, because it does not respond to reality and distorts the functioning of the markets. It is the most important message, that what we have on the table today is not enough. We must speed up the immediate response capacity and we want a much more complete proposal", summarized the Spaniard,

who also sees much more openness in those who have been more reluctant until now.

"I believe that

other options that allow us to have a direct impact on the price of gas," he concluded.

There is discomfort in the south with Berlin, which presumes that the system is made according to its design, which refuses to go further in general measures but at the same time takes advantage of its fiscal muscle to dedicate 200,000 million euros to alleviate the bill between its citizens and businesses.

A general measure that also goes against those suggested from Brussels, which advocates very specific interventions, among the most vulnerable, precisely to avoid fueling inflation.

Critics say that measures such as the Spanish ones may have worked to lower costs, but they have triggered gas consumption, when the objective is to reduce it by at least 15%.

The Government defends itself and says that it is true that there is more use of gas for electricity production, but because these months it has had to help, through exports, the demand of Portugal and France, weighed down by a heat wave and having the half of its nuclear park stopped.

Without that export, they say,

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