Ihe current energy crisis has brought to light the dysfunctions of the European energy markets and the differences in approach to energy transition between the different countries. The preparation of the next directive with a view to reforming the organization of the electricity market, the draft of which the Commission presented on 14 March, offers France the opportunity to propose a reorientation of regulation which would give Member States greater latitude for manage their own energy mix at national level, while preserving the market spot European Union in the short term and its advantages.
If all the European States seem to agree to decarbonize their economies, the paths that each wishes to take to achieve this are deeply divergent, even opposed. The main stumbling block concerns nuclear power, to which some, led by France, are attached, while others, led by Germany, are frankly opposed to it (Barbara Schulze, Minister for the Environment, had been up to to declare, in early 2021, that Germany’s mission was to denuclearize Europe).
This discrepancy occurs repeatedly. Very influential on the Commission, Germany has systematically succeeded since 2008 in ensuring that the binding objectives concerning low-carbon options relate only to energy efficiency and renewables (ENR). In this same logic, it fought in 2021 so that nuclear energy, in the now famous taxonomy, is not considered “green” and that, curiously, gas is.
The market model (“market design”) is linked to the electricity mix
Since then, Germany has also objected to the list of hydrogen production methods considered “sustainable” including nuclear power, which has given rise to endless debate. The current battle concerns the organization of the electricity market, Germany remaining attached to the current short-term market model, but unfavorable to heavy long-term investments such as nuclear power. If she manages, once again, to impose her views on Brussels, the entire energy policy that France has been pursuing for nearly half a century will be hampered.
Indeed, the choice of a market model (marketing design) is closely linked to the electrical mix that we wish to implement. It responds above all to a political objective. The introduction of competition in the electricity industries during the great wave of liberalism was made possible by the joint arrival of digital transactions and low-capital gas combined cycles.
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