World
EU proposes joint gas purchasing and ‘dynamic’ cap to curb prices
The European Fee has proposed an EU-wide cap to rein in surging fuel costs, however the measure will apply solely in circumstances of maximum volatility and hypothesis.
President Ursula von der Leyen additionally put ahead plans to arrange joint purchases of fuel and set up solidarity guidelines amongst member states to deal with potential shortages.
The proposed cap will act as an emergency device and be triggered when fuel costs throughout Europe’s buying and selling hubs move a sure threshold, which is but to be outlined.
The measure falls wanting the forceful intervention advocated by some EU nations, together with Italy, Greece, Poland and Belgium, who had referred to as for a broader worth cap on all fuel imports and all fuel transactions.
A extra focused worth cap on the fuel used for energy era was equally excluded from the Fee’s new bundle, as the manager continues to look at the potential dangers of this measure.
“We imagine it deserves to be thought of for introduction at EU degree,” von der Leyen mentioned, leaving the door open.
This is a round-up of the newest power measures proposed by the European Fee.
A cap to tame hypothesis
Brussels intends to arrange a brand new mechanism to include extreme volatility on the Dutch Title Switch Facility (TTF), Europe’s main buying and selling hub, and different related venues.
The TTF is a digital market the place suppliers and shoppers commerce fuel provides. Though not each firm makes use of the TTF, its costs function the primary reference for Europe’s whole power sector.
Since Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine, the platform has seen abrupt ups and downs in fuel costs, as uncertainty over safety of provides fuelled hypothesis.
In August, the TTF reached an all-time document worth of €339 per megawatt-hour, driving electrical energy payments alongside the best way. After the height, costs started a gradual downward pattern, hitting a three-month low in early October.
Monday closed at €128 per megawatt-hour.
The proposed cap will act as a ceiling and successfully restrict the utmost fuel worth at which the TTF is allowed to commerce. It will likely be a dynamic cap, quite than mounted, and can mimic market tendencies.
The precise vary continues to be up within the air and can be mentioned amongst capitals within the coming days. Because the cap can be triggered solely in conditions of maximum volatility, the vary is anticipated to be broad.
In parallel, the European Fee plans to determine one other cap to include worth spikes of power derivatives, the monetary belongings that firms use to safe gas provides within the medium and long run.
“Having a worth cap as a backstop answer in case of an emergency scenario is an efficient manner ahead that may deliver some calm to the market, as excessive volatility won’t be tolerated any longer,” Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at Bruegel, informed Euronews in response to the announcement.
A brand new market, however only for LNG
The European Fee says each caps can be a brief answer whereas the EU works to construct a brand new buying and selling hub, distinct from the TTF, that can be devoted solely to liquefied pure fuel (LNG).
Regardless of being costly, LNG has change into the go-to commodity to exchange Russian pipeline fuel. Since January, the EU has been breaking data of LNG imports, primarily from the US, as a interval of financial slowdown in China frees up worldwide competitors.
However this large LNG increase has not been correctly mirrored on the TTF as a result of this hub continues to be overly influenced by pipeline provides and is subsequently weak to Russia’s manipulation.
A brand-new benchmark will supply “fairer” and extra “clear” LNG costs, the Fee says.
The objective is to have the LNG hub up and operating by April. Nevertheless, its success will rely upon the response of market operators, who may reject or embrace the brand new platform.
Joint purchases
Additionally by April, the Fee intends to have in place a correct system that can enable member states to purchase fuel provides as one single shopper.
“We all know that we’re sturdy after we act collectively,” von der Leyen mentioned.
The thought of joint procurement has been touted since mid-2021 however gained traction in current weeks as nations rushed to fill their underground phases and drove costs additional up.
The subsequent filling season is projected to be arduous and costly as a result of the EU will now not depend on Russian pipeline fuel. The Fee estimates there’s a hole of “un-contracted” fuel demand of as much as 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) – round 25% of what the EU consumed earlier than Russia launched a conflict.
Joint procurement may assist bridge the hole and guarantee all nations, no matter their buying energy, have entry to fuel provides at inexpensive – or a minimum of tolerable – costs.
As a primary step, member states can be requested to pool their fuel demand to establish their essential wants and search extra enticing affords from worldwide suppliers.
Then, on a voluntary foundation, European firms can be permitted to affix forces as a consortium and purchase fuel collectively, according to competitors guidelines.
Russia can be excluded from the joint procurement.
On the similar time, the European Fee will intensify bilateral negotiations with its essential suppliers, such because the US, Norway, Canada and Azerbaijan, to safe decrease tariffs.
Solidarity guidelines
In its newest bundle, the Fee urges member states to signal so-called solidarity offers between one another. These agreements enable fuel to movement throughout borders from one nation with sufficient fuel to a different one affected by acute shortages.
As of in the present day, out of 40 potential solidarity offers, solely six have been signed.
The Fee proposes default solidarity guidelines that can mechanically apply in all of the circumstances the place a deal isn’t in place. Solidarity can be prolonged to make sure important gas-fired energy crops preserve operating and to facilitate the distribution of LNG provides throughout the bloc.
The foundations will compel neighbouring states to answer a request of assist inside 12 hours and ship the required provides inside three days.
The assisted nation should paid a monetary compensation based mostly on common market costs.
Monetary help
On high of those distinctive market devices, the Fee is proposing measures to offer larger monetary help for firms dealing with liquidity points.
EU guidelines for state help can be amended to make sure governments can inject the required funds into companies that face chapter or insolvency.
The brink for power derivatives can be raised from €3 billion to €4 billion whereas the checklist of eligible belongings can be expanded to incorporate non-cash collateral. This can alleviate the stress for power firms who have to safe costly provides for the medium and long run.
Notably, the Fee plans to show almost €40 billion in cohesion funds, that are historically used to finance growth initiatives in poorer areas, into financial help to assist weak households and SMEs below stress.
The brand new power bundle can be mentioned by EU leaders at a two-day summit later this week and additional fleshed out by power ministers on Tuesday.
World
Ukraine investigates civilian injuries, battles rage in Kharkiv region
World
Philippine mayor accused of acting as Chinese asset amid investigation, tensions
A Philippine mayor faces accusations of acting as a Chinese asset amid a growing territorial dispute between the two countries.
“No one knows her. We wonder where she came from. That’s why we are investigating this, together with the Bureau of Immigration, because of the questions about her citizenship,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos told reporters this week.
Alice Guo, the 35-year-old mayor of Bamban, has found herself in the middle of a potential scandal over her origins and allegiances. She claimed to have grown up on a pig farm and had raised no concerns prior to a strange discovery made in her town this month, the BBC reported.
Law enforcement discovered that an online casino by the name of Philippine Offshore Gambling Operator (Pogo) in Bamban actually served as a front for a “scam center,” which had close to 700 workers — including over 200 Chinese nationals — who were posing as “online lovers.”
CHINA’S MILITARY MONITORS ROUTE TAKEN BY FILIPINO ACTIVISTS SAILING TOWARD DISPUTED SHOAL
The raid on the site in March rescued all of those workers, who claimed they were forced to work for the owners. The center tried to con victims with a “pig butchering” scam, in which a scammer adopted a fake identity to gain trust and then offered a romantic relationship to manipulate and steal from the victim.
Guo found herself entangled in the incident when it came to light that she owned half the land where Pogo was located.
LAWMAKERS BRAWL AS TAIWAN’S PARLIAMENT DESCENDS INTO CHAOS
The nation’s Senate brought her into a hearing to testify, and she claimed she had sold the land before she ran for mayor two years earlier, along with assets that included a helicopter and a Ford Expedition, both registered under her name but allegedly sold off before her campaign, the South China Morning Press reported.
Other irregularities raised concerns about her status. She only registered with the Commission on Elections to vote in Bamban one year before she ran and won as mayor.
She also admitted she only registered her birth certificate with local authorities at the age of 17 and gave few details about her background other than she was born in a house and home-schooled in a family compound where they raised pigs.
Senators accused Guo of providing “opaque” answers to their questions about her background, leading one senator to ask if Guo was a Chinese asset. She fired back that she was “not a coddler, not a protector of Pogos.”
AFTER DOZENS DIE IN FLOODS, INDONESIA SEEDS CLOUDS TO BLOCK RAINFALL
China and the Philippines have found themselves in renewed territorial disputes as Beijing tries to enforce control over waters around the Philippines, leading to clashes between Chinese Coast Guards and Filipino fishermen.
Last year saw a series of near clashes between the two coast guards near the Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippine authorities protested China’s use of a water cannon and military-grade lasers.
China established a claim to the Scarborough Shoal in 2012, after which the Philippines formally launched a protest that went before a United Nations-backed tribunal. A 2016 ruling went against China, rejecting Beijing’s claims on “historical grounds,” but Beijing rejected the arbitration and its outcome.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Sanchez: “I will recognise the Palestinian state next Wednesday”.
Spain’s prime minister said during a rally in Catalonia that he is going to propose the parliament’s official recognition of Palestine as a state on Wednesday, 22 May.
Sanchez defended the decision “out of moral conviction”, considering it “a just cause” and the “only way” to achieve peace and security in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ireland, Malta and Slovenia are expected to follow suit, and have already agreed to take the first steps in that direction.
In a phone call on Saturday, Taoiseach Simon Harris and Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store agreed to remain in close consultation in the days ahead. Norway’s parliament adopted a government proposal in November for the country to be prepared to recognise an independent Palestinian state.
Harris and Store said that the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza underscored the need for an immediate ceasefire and for unhindered access for aid.
Earlier this week, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said his country would recognise Palestine’s statehood by mid-June.
Sanchez meanwhile criticised the Popular Party for refusing to recognise the Palestinian state and responded to former President Jose Maria Aznar by stating that “Spain will recognise it”.
The prime minister also acknowledged his party’s positive result in the Catalan elections of 12 May and said that Salvador Illa would make a good President of the Generalitat.
Spain would be the 10th European country to recognise the Palestinian State
There are already nine countries in the EU that have recognised Palestine as a state and Spain would be the tenth. On the list are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Slovakia.
Sanchez confirmed on Friday that Spain’s recognition will not be made at Tuesday’s Council of Ministers, as had been suggested.
The prime minister said that his position on the Israel-Hamas conflict is much like his country’s support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion more than two years ago.
He stressed that Spain demanded ”respect for international law from Russia, and from Israel, for the violence to end, the recognition of two states, and for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza”.
Sanchez added his voice to a chorus of other European leaders and government officials who have said that they could support a two-state solution in the Middle East, as international frustration grows with Israel’s military actions in the Palestinian territories.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that it’s not ”taboo” for France to recognise a Palestinian state. British Foreign Minister David Cameron said that the United Kingdom could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Five months after Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage, the Israeli military has responded with air and ground assaults that have killed more than 35,386 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Why does Spain support recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state?
Spain has been historically close to the Arab world and, as such, the nation is actively trying to push a line more favourable to Palestinian aspirations within the European Union.
In a speech made shortly after his re-election last year, Sanchez promised that his new government’s “first commitment” on foreign policy would be to “work in Europe and Spain to recognise the Palestinian state”.
At the same time, he said he was “on the side of Israel” in the face of “the terrorist attack” of 7 October, but also called on the Jewish state to put an end to the “indiscriminate killing of Palestinians”.
The stance comes at a time when many Western countries are facing criticism in the Arab world for being seemingly too favourable towards Israel.
In 2014, under a conservative government, the Spanish Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the recognition of the Palestinian state, supported by all political parties.
The vote, though, was non-binding and not followed by any action.
In Europe, several countries have taken this step in a more effective way.
They include Sweden, Hungary, Malta and Romania – but none of the main EU member states have done so, meaning that Spain could become a pioneer.
A brief history of Spanish-Arab relations
Geographically close to the Maghreb region of North Africa, Spain turned to Arab countries during the Franco dictatorship which ran from 1939 to 1975 in order to circumvent its isolation in the West.
It was not until 1986, however, that the nation established official relations with Israel.
The relatively late date was a consequence of tensions born from Israel’s opposition to Spain’s entry into the UN at the end of the Second World War, due to its proximity to Nazi Germany.
In 1993, they played a role in the Oslo Accords, through which Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization mutually recognised each other as part of the peace process.
Overall, though, Spain remains perceived by many as a pro-Arab country.
At the end of October, a mini-diplomatic crisis even broke out with the Israeli embassy after controversial statements by a far-left Spanish minister who spoke of a “planned genocide” in Gaza.
With much of Europe firmly pro-Israel, Isaias Barrenada, a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, said it will be an uphill battle for Sanchez.
”It is difficult to imagine that Spain has the capacity to reorient the European position,” Barrenada told AFP, but “it can contribute to showing that there are sensitivities within the EU.”
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