Maximum pressure on Germany to lift the veto on gas caps

• Energy Spain, France and Portugal agree to abandon Midcat and replace it with "a green energy corridor" between Marseille and Barcelona

In recent years, European summits have seen numerous examples of 'all against one'.

He spent 2015 with

's

.

From 2017 onwards with

due to

.

With

for

all sorts of reasons, from the rule of law to energy to sanctions on

.

But it is not common, and there are no recognizable codes, by the time a

becomes something like 'everyone against

'.

In Berlin they are used to speaking out, setting the agenda, and they have no problem being against the majority if it doesn't suit them.

He spent with the

, with various elements of the packages during the debt crisis, countless dossiers.

But in recent weeks the pressure on Chancellor

has multiplied, leaving him more and more alone.

It is something relatively similar to isolation, because in matters of orthodoxy and market,

is always on the side of Berlin and because, in reality, among the rest of the EU there is not exactly a common position.

But it is true that there is a majority of countries in favor of intervening more deeply in the energy market and of acting to decouple the price of gas from that of electricity and that even the skeptics, the Dutch or the Finns, have come to the meeting indicating that they they are not opposed to the idea, as long as the design is good and there are guarantees.

Germany, which very recently called for the solidarity of all for a uniform reduction in consumption, and which later irritated the continent by announcing a plan of 200,000 million euros to help its citizens and companies, resists and prevents, with its ascendancy over the

more ambitious or radical measures.

But she is losing her footing.

The idea is not to solve everything at this Summit.

"You have to send a political message," say the delegations, put in writing the most ambitious of what they are capable of.

Then it will be the turn

, who will meet on Tuesday and surely again at the end of the month.

And to the Commission, which, depending on the language of the document of conclusions that is agreed upon, will go more or less far.

Until now, he has renounced his role, and instead of proposing, he waits for a consensus in the Council, a defensive attitude and that on this issue he is not giving satisfactory results.

In the previous appointment, in

, the message from the leaders seemed very forceful and ambitious, but the proposal that arrived days later fell short again because

continues to confirm that his country does not give the arm to twist, and does not dare to go forward.

Berlin's position is causing friction with two of its closest allies,

and

.

There is serious concern in

about the divisions in the Franco-German axis, tensions so strong that they have led to the cancellation of the joint meeting of the Council of Ministers scheduled for a few days.

Both countries are clashing on energy, on interconnections but also on other profound issues, such as Defense or aid to

.

“It is not good for Germany, nor for Europe, that they isolate themselves,” Macron said on Thursday.

"Similarly, the Italian Prime Minister,

, on his way out and probably before his last European Council, is no longer holding back and is saying what he thinks without filters. And making sure that everyone knows it outside the room as well. message from the Italian, who in Prague two weeks ago criticized the inaction of the European Commission with unusual harshness, has been that not immediately applying a cap on the price of gas (which is imported but above all for the generation of electricity) will lead to a matter of weeks the EU into a recession and that this blockade, hand in hand with the individual plans of those who have more fiscal muscle, is going to cause a painful fragmentation of the single market.

France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece or Portugal

want caps on gas, and if the issue were taken to the limit it could probably come out by qualified majority.

But not everyone agrees on how to apply it and the European Council should issue a mandate to the Commission with clearer instructions to propose specific solutions now.

Similarly, there are those who would like a pooled European fund to deal with the costs of this crisis.

Some advocate placing dynamic limits immediately until a new reference index is established (replacing the TTF that is used now and does not reflect, they say, reality).

And then there are the Dutch, who do not want limits and who try to convince everyone that there is enough money, up to

, in all types of single items, so no more joint issues are needed.

The German thesis, repeated by Scholz a few hours ago in his Parliament, is that a cap can cause supply problems, since suppliers (especially those of liquefied gas, which goes by ship) can look for other buyers.

And that the risk is too high.

The problems, precisely, belong to his coalition.

"It is incredible that an internal problem can cause an external misfortune," lament diplomatic sources.

"Scholz has no strength at home and is losing respect abroad," they add from another delegation.

He himself acknowledged in the room that he has room to discuss those more aggressive proposals, the caps, but right now, he argued, he has no mandate to agree on anything.

loudly denounced

, according to FT.

"States must have a common spending mechanism to defend a fair playing field. It is not a question of solidarity, it is about safeguarding the internal market," Draghi said at the meeting, according to his diplomats.

On Wednesday, in the

, President Von der Leyen recognized that the Iberian mechanism that caps gas was working and that "it was worth exploring its use throughout the Union."

Explore, still, because his team has doubts about whether that would lead to greater consumption, if it could generate a problem in the internal market because the subsidized energy would spread throughout the continent and because they believe that it would benefit some and others more, accelerating precisely that fragmentation .

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• Germany

• berlin

• Europe

• UPyD

• Portugal

• Greece

• Poland

• Italy

• European Comission

• Brexit