Media: a group of EU countries will develop their own project to limit gas prices

MOSCOW, 30 Sep — PRIME. A group of individual European Union countries will develop their own bill to limit gas prices, Polish climate minister Anna Moskva told Reuters.

“We will prepare a bill, submit it to the commission (European – ed.), and I hope that the commission will accept it,” Moscow told the agency after a meeting of the EU Energy Council.

Moscow also told the agency that states developing the bill include Poland, Belgium, Italy and Greece. She specified that the proposal would concern wholesale gas prices and would be ready for discussion by EU energy ministers at a meeting on 11 October.

Reuters writes that at a meeting this Friday, EU ministers discussed whether to limit the price of imported gas. The agency says at least 15 EU member states support the idea, but some countries, such as Germany, Europe’s biggest gas buyer, oppose it.

Reuters notes that, according to Brussels, the restriction of wholesale gas prices carries certain risks associated with the functioning of the gas market.

“This will certainly affect prices, but it will also effectively mean the suspension of the EU gas market and create risks for the security of supply,” the agency quotes European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson as saying.

Earlier, Reuters reported that the EU countries are still far from reaching a common opinion and agreement on the introduction of restrictions on prices for Russian gas.