The European Commission's proposed grid package from December includes allowing the EU to use 25 percent of the so-called bottleneck fees that member states receive, which arise from price differences between different electricity areas.
Sweden risks losing multi-billion-dollar sums, which has put the government on the warpath ahead of Monday's ministerial discussion in Brussels.
I hope the coffee is strong, because I am here on a mission. In Swedish we have an expression called "duktig flicka". But the good girl is about to become evil, Ebba Busch announces to her EU colleagues during the meeting.
“Unacceptable”
Sweden considers itself to be treated unfairly and believes that it has done significantly more than other EU countries when it comes to complying with energy regulations, helping others through exports and producing fossil-free energy.
What kind of signal does this send? It is completely unacceptable that countries that have gone ahead should now be punished, says Busch.
She now warns that Sweden is open to taking all possible measures, including stopping new cross-border pipelines and not extending permits for existing ones.
It risks affecting neighboring Denmark in particular - which is not entirely without reason.
Yes, and you can note that the EU's Energy Commissioner (Dan Jørgensen) is also Danish. We have been clear with our neighboring countries that we have no interest in punishing them. But our task must be to look at Sweden first, Busch tells Swedish journalists on the way to the meeting.
Like a warrior king?
Jørgensen himself is cautious.
"I understand, of course, that some countries have certain specific challenges and I am very willing to discuss that. Ultimately, we have to agree and find compromises," Jørgensen says during the meeting.
At the same time, he compares it to ancient "warrior kings" who thought long-term and planted forests to use for warships in a hundred years.
"We have to make some difficult decisions now, even though we know they won't work tomorrow. But if we don't, we will have the same challenges in ten years as we have today," says Jørgensen.
