As the EU and the UK are looking to reset their post-Brexit relationship, the European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, has told EU member states not to give the UK greater access to the EU electricity markets, the Financial Times reports, quoting a working paper it has seen.
The advice aligns with the EU’s “no cherry-picking” stance regarding trade and market relations with the UK after Britain left the bloc. But it also goes contrary to what industry in both the EU and the UK want.
In the document circulated to EU member states and seen by FT, the European Commission writes that “The UK’s decision not to rejoin the single market limits the possibilities for other options to be considered, sectoral participation in the EU energy market would not be in the union’s interest and would be contrary to the European Council guidelines.”
The EU and the UK are set to begin next year renegotiating the post-Brexit trade and market access of UK companies to the EU single markets, including the electricity and energy markets.
The latest advice from the Commission to the EU member states is “extremely disappointing and frankly very shortsighted from the commission,” a senior energy executive told FT.
Earlier this year, a coalition of 19 leading European energy associations and transmission system operators issued a joint letter to the European and UK Governments, in which they called for more efficient electricity arrangements between the European Internal Energy Market (IEM) and the UK market.
Such arrangements would unlock investment in offshore generation and grid infrastructure in the North Sea, the associations say.
“The UK does not need to join the IEM for a solution to be found. The parties to this letter believe that there is a much easier solution available, making it possible to extend the European price coupling to the GB market while still protecting the integrity and EU-governance of the IEM,” said the organizations and system operators.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com