Greece backs 10-country motion on EU gas pricing cap: Press
Greece has backed a letter to the European Commission pushing for a price cap on all wholesale gas transactions in the EU, Reuters reported September 26.
The proposal is being backed by a total of 10 EU member states, Reuters said, including Italy, Belgium, Poland, Romania and Malta. These countries plan to submit a letter asking the commission to look at a price cap at a meeting of EU energy ministers on September 30.
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"We acknowledge the efforts made by the Commission and the measures it has put forward to face the crisis. But we have yet to tackle the most serious problem of all: the wholesale price of natural gas," said a draft of the letter seen by Reuters, to be submitted to EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson.
The EU is divided on whether a price cap should be applied only to Russian imports, or whether it should be extended to all non-EU gas supplies, in a bid to rein in inflation caused by soaring energy prices. The commission's chief Ursula von der Leyen proposed a package of emergency measures to limit energy inflation earlier in September, while avoiding a firm commitment to cap gas prices.
The draft letter argues a price cap would allow EU countries to contain "untenable inflationary pressures", but must also be designed in a way that ensures security of supply. But Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark have opposed price capping, arguing it would undermine energy flows in EU gas markets this winter.