EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has shown herself open to a fundamental price cap on gas. “Such an upper limit for gas prices must be designed in such a way that security of supply is guaranteed,” said the German politician on Wednesday in the Strasbourg European Parliament. In addition, it must be a temporary measure “until we have developed a new EU price index that ensures a better functioning of the market”.
More than half of the EU countries had recently called for such a price cap. However, Germany and other countries are skeptical and argue that this would possibly result in insufficient gas being supplied to the EU. Von der Leyen emphasized that security of supply must be guaranteed, but this is a fine line.
Her initiative is part of a roadmap that she says she wants to send in a letter to the heads of state and government for the EU summit on Friday. Part of this will also be, as a first step, proposing a gas price cap only for gas that is used to generate electricity.
In addition, negotiations with trustworthy partners such as Norway would have to be expanded for further gas imports. In doing so, one must agree on a price corridor so that there are no more “crazy peaks” in prices. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) recently complained about “moon prices” that friendly countries also achieved. In addition, joint purchases by the EU states must be strengthened so that they do not outbid each other and drive up prices, said von der Leyen.
In principle, according to their information, the EU countries are buying less and less Russian gas. Russian gas supplies fell from 41 percent to 7.5 percent of total imports. The gas storage facilities are almost 90 percent full – 15 percent more than at this point last year. Overall, gas consumption has been reduced by 10 percent.
