EU countries are studying a proposal to cap gas prices below what has been proposed so far, while their energy ministers meet on Monday in an effort to end months of disagreement .
Arriving in Brussels for a meeting of EU energy ministers on Monday, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said a deal on EU gas price caps was within reach – with ministers trying to agree on it.
She added, “I feel very strongly that a deal is within reach. Of course, that requires a very strong desire by all to reach a consensus.”
On the other hand, Czech Deputy Prime Minister Josep Sekla said there was good hope today that an agreement on gas price caps could be reached during the meeting of European energy ministers, with some back-up plans in place as some countries fear that their supplies will fall. affected. He also added that in the past few days, a lot of efforts have been made by all parties to reach a consensus.
Despite months of negotiations and two emergency ministerial meetings on the EU proposal to set a price cap, EU countries have failed to reach a consensus.
European countries are divided on whether these measures will ease Europe’s current energy crisis, or exacerbate it.
European energy ministers convene 15 to resolve ongoing differences (Al Jazeera)
According to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg, the Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, has drafted a new agreement to try to break the current deadlock on the 19th.
The proposal consists in activating the price cap mechanism for a period of three days if the transaction price in the most recent one-month contract on the Dutch Gas Exchange (TTF) exceeds 188 euros per MWh.
The proposal falls well short of the 275 euros per megawatt-hour originally proposed by the European Commission, which proponents of imposing price caps, including Belgium, Poland and Greece, say is too high.
The countries claim that the ceiling must be below 200 euros to cope with the high gas prices that drive up consumer bills.
Russia was the EU’s top gas supplier until it went to war with Ukraine in February, but since then it has cut off much of the flow to Europe, driving up energy prices and pushing inflation to record highs. record level.