Germany has announced that it will increase gas export tariffs from July 1, increasing tensions with Austria and Brussels - Euractiv reported.
In the summer of 2022, when Russia stopped supplying gas to Germany, the German government allowed high prices for gas from other sources to fill its reserves before winter. As gas prices fell, market operator Trading Hub Europe (THE) collected surcharges for exported gas to cover costs.
THE announced that from July, the tax rate will increase by 34% to 2.5 euros/MWh. The announcement comes amid prolonged tripartite tensions between Austria, Germany and Belgium.
Austria, backed by countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, said the fee would prevent it from giving up Russian gas because non-Russian gas was imported through liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations in Western Europe, which were more expensive due to additional German tariffs.
Austria said the tax rate violated the European Union's free movement of goods. When asked by an EU lawmaker, the European Commission said it was monitoring the situation in the EU carefully and was in contact with the German government about the legality of gas tariffs.
The German government has previously asserted that the tax rate is in line with EU regulations and contributes to the stability of the European gas market - by funding annual reserve obligations.
We are continuing to conduct in-depth negotiations with the European Commission and EU member states on this issue, a German spokesperson for Euractiv told Euractiv.
Trading Hub Europe - which operates the German market and is tasked with collecting fees and keeping gas reserves full - explained the spike in taxes as a result of rapidly falling gas prices, forcing them to increase to cover losses.
In 2022, THE purchased about 50 TWh of gas at an average price of about 175 euros/MWh to pump into storage. Although THE has sold 1/4 of the gas at a price of 50% of the purchase price, it must sell the remaining volume at a price lower than 1/3 of the purchase price.
This explanation does not seem to be agreed by experts and associations.
"The European Commission should get involved," said Christoph Dolna-Gruber, an expert from Austria. This tax makes gas prices higher.
For its part, the Eurelectric industry association said that this tax violates the EU's free trade principles.
The European Commission has prepared legal action to sue Germany over the issue last month, Reuters sources said.
The European Commission spokesperson did not comment on potential legal action but said that negotiations with the German government are still ongoing.
The spokesperson said at a regular press conference: "The committee has encouraged Germany to propose solutions to remove these obstacles and not hinder the efforts of EU member states to diversify Russian gas supplies."
