EU ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday delayed the final decision on a proposed cap on natural gas prices to next week, despite the urgency of the issue.
The European Commission proposed the price cap last month following the economic upheaval caused by Russia reducing gas supplies to Europe, hiking up energy prices.
What happened during Tuesday’s EU meeting?
The ministers agreed on two other measures to mitigate the bloc’s energy shortage: joint gas purchases as well as accelerated authorizations for renewable energy installations would be adopted as soon as the price cap was finalized.
“I was hoping to open a Champagne today to celebrate the agreement. But apparently, we still need to keep the bottles in the fridge for a while,” said Czech Industry Minister Jozef Sikela. Poland currently holds the EU presidency and chaired the discussions.
He told journalists, “Our aim is to approve all three items in a package on Monday,” when the talks on the price cap resume.
The commission had suggested a price cap of €275 ($292) per megawatt hour, but only if the price remained above that level for at least two weeks, and then only if the price for liquified natural gas (LNG) went above €58 for 10 days within that same two-week period.
To reach a deal, the EU ministers need to agree on how high the price limit should be, to which gas contracts it should apply and what safeguards to enact, such as the EU’s authority to suspend the cap immediately in case of unwanted consequences.
Cap exposes ‘fragile balance’ in EU
Some countries, including Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, fear that the gas price cap might risk supplies going to higher-paying markets.
“We have made progress, but we are not done yet. Not all questions could be answered today,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said after the meeting, which overran by hours as country delegates hunted for a compromise.
Other states, including Greece, Belgium, Italy and Poland are urging for a cap, claiming it would protect their economies from high energy prices.
“European citizens are in agony, European businesses are closing and Europe has been needlessly debating,” Greek Energy Minister Konstantinos Skrekas said on Tuesday ahead of the meeting.
“The time for consultation has run out,” the Italian minister for European affairs, Raffaele Fitto, said as he went into the meeting.
Both sides could each have enough votes to block a deal, with France potentially proving to be decisive in the final negotiations on Monday.
Sikela said the price cap was “extremely sensitive” and had exposed a “fragile balance” in the European Union.
“Some of the countries believe that if we are wrong with the mechanism, it can basically cause like a much bigger problem that we want to prevent,” he said.
los/wd (dpa, AFP, AP, Reuters)
