Five EU Countries Push For Deal With UK On Electricity

Five EU countries, including Germany, have called on Brussels to speed up talks about the UK’s participation in the European electricity market, according to a letter seen by AFP Saturday.
A highly anticipated summit between the EU and the UK is scheduled for November 20 in Brussels, after Prime Minister Andy Burnham promised to move the country closer to the bloc, 10 years after the Brexit referendum.

Items on the agenda include youth mobility, the simplification of sanitary regulations for food products and the exchange of carbon emission quotas.

But Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg want the summit to provide fresh momentum to the European electricity market.

They argue that integrating the UK into the market would help transform the North Sea region into “the largest clean energy hub in the world”, driven by wind power projects.

“An agreement will thus enhance Europe’s energy security and contribute to a competitive economy that centres on access to clean and affordable energy,” they said in a letter to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council leader Antonio Costa.

Among the issues to be resolved is the “entry fee” that the UK would need to pay to join the European electricity market, they added.

AFP