The European Commission clears the way for governments to break the unity of the European electricity market

The European Commission has just told governments to do whatever they want against companies, even if, mind you, it generates legal uncertainty, disruption of the internal market, investment flight, appeals to the courts and the open door to the fiercest interventionism.

To make matters worse, he draws up a menu, a kind of menu, "help yourself, Mr Sánchez, to put taxes everywhere possible". And, worst of all, on each plate he warns that if governments implement the same measures he points out, they could find themselves in court, companies closed down, a broken market and, of course, unbearable legal uncertainty.

In recent days we have seen diesel and petrol rise by up to two euros per litre. Diesel A cost 1.856 euros per litre; diesel A+, 1.939 euros and unleaded petrol 95, 1.873 euros per litre. This at the petrol station, but in the heat of these prices, the country is immersed in a continuous protest by transporters who have left a good part of Spain's supermarkets out of stock of some products.

A barrel of Brent crude oil reached 137.00 dollars on the 7th, marking a new annual high, a figure that had not been seen in the last 13 years and eight months. With this latest rise, the price of Brent oil in 2022 has gained 75.78%, or 59.06 dollars, so do the maths. In the last five years the price of a barrel of Brent has risen by 128.96%.

So what is the Commission proposing? Do as you please. Choose from this menu the interventionist measure you like most electorally. Take your pick. Feel free to intervene in the free market to make things worse.

Analysts paint a bleak picture for this year. JP Morgan expects crude oil to reach $185 by the end of 2022 if the Russian export disruption extends to the end of the year, although its average for 2022 is $98.

In the absence of concrete action by national and European authorities for renewable energies, the high dependence on fossil fuels will be prolonged over time. The problem is precisely that, the lukewarmness of the government and the European Commission, which are unable to find the formula, which is none other than the free market.

Opening the door to all kinds of measures, a recommendation put into practice by the European Commission, generates a clear distortion of the internal market, actions harmful to competition, legal uncertainty, litigation and a long etcetera of disturbances.