EU countries still split by ‘different views’ on gas cap – Saudi Gazette

EU countries still split by ‘different views’ on gas cap – Saudi Gazette

BRUSSELS — The first-ever EU cap on gas prices still has a long way to go.

The 27 countries are split by “different views” around the unprecedented proposal, which aims to set a maximum price on the daily transactions taking place in the gas market.

The cap will apply to the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), Europe’s leading trading hub, and other similar venues, and will act as an emergency ceiling to prevent cases of extreme speculation and volatility.

The actual price range is yet to be defined.

“Here, as you can imagine, we have rather different views on the [TTF] mechanism,” said Czech Energy Minister Jozef Síkela said on Tuesday at the end of a meeting of energy ministers in Luxembourg.

Síkela did not mention countries by name but it is understood that some states, like Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Netherlands, are reluctant to cap gas prices at EU level while others, like Belgium, Greece, Poland and Italy, support an even broader cap that would also encompass gas imports.

“The main question is how to make sure that capping will still allow us to buy the gas we need on the market,” Síkela said, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU