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Manuel Berkel

Manuel Berkel Published: January 8th, 2025

Gas transit: Fico travels to Brussels

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico wants to discuss the transit ban on Russian gas through Ukraine with members of the European Commission this Thursday. He will travel to Brussels for this purpose, as the government in Bratislava announced on Tuesday. Fico will be accompanied by Economy Minister Denisa Saková. Fico plans to give a press […]

Manuel Berkel Published: January 8th, 2025

Reserve power plants: Commission postpones important report

An important interim step towards the faster construction of reserve power plants is coming later than planned. According to the amended Electricity Market Regulation, the Commission must submit a report to Parliament and the Council by Jan. 17 on ways to speed up the approval of capacity mechanisms. This deadline is unlikely to be met, […]

Manuel Berkel Published: January 6th, 2025

Today at 11 a.m., Alexander Van der Bellen will receive a man in the Hofburg to whom he did not actually want to open any doors. The Austrian Federal President will meet FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl for a first meeting following the collapse of the coalition negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos. Kickl could […]

Manuel Berkel Published: January 6th, 2025

Internal market: Commission launches consultation

The EU Commission is collecting comments on its planned internal market strategy until the end of January. The consultation started last Friday. The Commission is collecting information on obstacles to the free movement of goods and services and proposals for better enforcement of legislation. The ideas collected will be discussed at the Single Market Forum […]

Manuel Berkel Published: January 5th, 2025

Gas from Russia: How the weak EU internal market complicates independence

According to experts, independence from Russian gas is made more difficult by high network charges, long construction times for important pipelines and the inadequate implementation of European internal market rules. Slovakia is also being criticized. Prime Minister Robert Fico has been threatening Ukraine for days with an electricity boycott due to the suspension of the […]

Manuel Berkel Published: December 20th, 2024

DG ENER: Łukasz Koliński new head of department

Łukasz Koliński was officially appointed Director of the Directorate-General for Energy this week. He is in charge of Department C – Green Transition and Energy System Integration. He previously held the post on an interim basis.Is something changing in your organization? Send a note for our personnel section to heads@table.media!

Manuel Berkel Published: December 19th, 2024

Hydrogen: Commission approves €3 billion for H2Global

The European Commission has approved the second funding round of the H2Global hydrogen support mechanism for Germany and the Netherlands. “In the spirit of the future ‘Clean Industry Deal’, this three billion euro German-Dutch scheme will help meet the growing demand for renewable fuels in the EU by supporting their development around the world,” said Commission […]

Manuel Berkel Published: December 19th, 2024

Trio program: Council prioritizes foreign affairs and asylum

The next three Council presidencies want to strengthen the EU’s external relations and border protection in particular. This emerges from the as-yet-unpublished eighteen-month program of Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus. The governments of the three member states will form the next trio presidency from January 2025 to June 2026, which will always have a joint program.According […]

Manuel Berkel Published: December 18th, 2024

Solar power: Growth slows down

According to industry figures, the growth of photovoltaics in the EU has slowed this year and needs further political support in order to safely achieve the European expansion targets. SolarPower Europe expects 65.5 gigawatts of newly installed PV capacity by the end of the year, compared to 62.8 GW in the previous year and around […]

Manuel Berkel Published: December 18th, 2024

Electricity price zone: Deadline for proposal for division set

An important date for a possible separation of the German electricity price zone has been set. The European transmission system operators want to present their report on the review of the bidding zones on Jan. 27. This was confirmed to Table.Briefings by network operator circles. After years of preparatory work, the transmission system operators (TSOs) […]