The European Commission’s current proposal on how to regulate high energy prices does not solve the problem at the moment and must be improved, says Lithuanian Foreign Vice Foreign Minister Jovita Neliupsiene.
Her comment came in response to the EC’s proposal on joint gas purchases and the application of price cap mechanisms, but only for transactions on the Dutch TTF energy exchange and not for all gas purchases as Lithuania and some other EU member states propose.
“The Commission’s existing proposal should be improved. We need at least very clear conditions on when the Commission will come up with such a gas price cap proposal,” the vice minister said on October 18 after discussing the idea with her EU counterparts at the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
“Long-term measures are important, but this winter will come before we have long-term measures in place, which is why the Commission needs to present a legal proposal for a price cap soon,” Neliupsiene added.
There’s still no consensus among EU member states on a gas price cap, which is why the Commission is waiting for the outcome of this week’s European Council meeting, she said.
“The Commission will wait for the outcome of the European Council meeting because member states will demand a stronger opinion after seeing the existing EC proposal, because, at least in Lithuania’s opinion, it does not solve the problem,” Neliupsiene underlined.
“We are not interested in decisions, for example, on the use of EU money because we are among the countries that are doing it successfully. We don’t see from the EC proposal, as it stands, that it will solve the current problem of high gas prices,” she added.
The EC says the October 18 proposals are aimed at tackling the problem of high gas prices in the EU and ensuring reliable supplies this winter. (LRT/Business World Magazine)