European Union energy ministers on Friday rejected a cap on the price of Russian gas, but instructed Brussels to prepare proposals within days to limit non-gas revenues for power producers and help power companies stay afloat, Reuters reported, citing News. ro.

• Read also: EU countries do not agree on limiting the price of Russian gas / What Moscow says

At an emergency meeting in Brussels, the ministers asked the European Commission to propose higher gas price limits, but the EU’s executive power recognized such an idea as unfeasible.

EU countries also supported a proposal by the Union’s Executive Commission to provide emergency funds to energy companies facing growing collateral requirements, and tasked the Commission with developing such measures.

“Everyone is rushing to find a solution,” Swedish Energy Minister Hashajar Farmanbar said, as ministers worried about the impact of soaring energy prices on households and businesses.

“Taking away some of those excess profits and returning them to households makes sense”

The EU plan, which has not yet been implemented, would see governments take excess revenue from wind, nuclear and coal plants, which can currently sell their electricity at record prices driven by gas prices, and use the money to cut customers. bills

Fossil fuel companies must also pay a “solidarity contribution,” according to the meeting’s summary.

“Taking some of those windfalls and returning them to households makes sense,” Ireland’s Environment Minister Eamonn Ryan said on Friday of the Commission’s recommendations.

He will present the proposals on Tuesday.

The energy minister may hold another emergency meeting later this month to discuss and approve the final plans, Czech industry minister Josef Sikela said.

There was “no broad support” for the overall price of gas

President Vladimir Putin said this week that Moscow would completely cut off supplies to Europe if a price cap were placed on Russian gas.

Some countries that still receive Russian gas have said they do not want to risk losing that supply.

“If price restrictions were imposed exclusively on Russian gas, this would obviously lead to an immediate termination of the supply of Russian gas,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijarto.

Italy’s Minister of Environmental Transition, Roberto Cingolani, said that 15 EU countries have spoken in favor of a common price ceiling for all gas imports.

But other countries, in particular the Netherlands, expressed their doubts.

“I wouldn’t say there was widespread support for a broad cap (on gas prices),” Dutch State Secretary for Extractive Industries Hans Wielbrief told reporters.

Commission warning: “Let’s not put our supply at risk”

The European Commission has warned that capping the price of liquefied natural gas in Europe could lead to the risk of it being diverted to other regions, depriving Europe of much-needed fuel.

“We must be careful not to jeopardize our security of supply situation,” said EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.

The EU executive did not include a general gas price cap in a list of measures proposed to countries ahead of Friday’s meeting.

Russian gas supplies to Europe fell by almost 90%

According to Refinitiv, over the past 12 months, Russian gas deliveries via the three main routes to Europe have fallen by almost 90%.

Moscow attributed the reduction in supplies to technical problems caused by Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

VNG, one of Germany’s biggest importers of Russian natural gas, on Friday became the latest European energy company to seek government support due to cuts in Russian gas supplies.

As EU countries push for “emergency liquidity tools” to help companies facing rising collateral requirements, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Friday that governments, not central banks, should help struggling energy companies under stress due to market volatility.

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