- 1 According to the Draghi report, for every euro of investment in low-carbon electricity generation between 2022 and 2040, €0.9 needs to be spent on network infrastructure and system integration, otherwise renewable generation could be curtailed by a factor of 10 (p. 15).
- 2 The report proposes setting a harmonized ‘ceiling’ level for the ‘taxes and network charges’ component at European level, which could provide material for the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive, which has historically been based on the concept of minimum taxation thresholds.
- 3 The same type of trade-off between industrial sectors deemed to be ‘priorities’ will have to be made for technological sectors in the energy sector (IDDRI, 2024). In this respect, the particularly strong stance taken by Mario Draghi when presenting the report to the European Parliament seems surprising, indicating that for the photovoltaic industry, there would be no sense in trying to compete with China.
- 4 The lack of differentiation between the types of industrial players is one of the weak points in the Draghi report's diagnosis, which is partly reflected in the lack of focus of certain recommendations. By way of illustration, the initial statement in the chapter on energy that energy costs 2 to 3 times more in Europe than in its main competitors deserves to be qualified, given that it does not differentiate between the situations of the different Member States (with price disparities that can vary by a factor of 1 to 3), nor those of different industrial players (prices for SMEs have nothing in common with those of electro-intensive manufacturers). Not to mention the fact that the reference year used (2023) tends to amplify the differences due to the energy crisis, with wholesale prices having fallen significantly since then.
The Draghi report on energy issues: a confirmation of the European Commission's strategic agenda?
