PM calls for stronger action from EC on natural gas price cap
Poland's prime minister has said the price of natural gas proposed by the European Commission (EC) is too high and more decisive action is needed by the EU's executive arm.
On Tuesday, the European Commission (EC) proposed implementing a "safety price ceiling of EUR 275 on month ahead TTF derivatives. This mechanism would only be triggered automatically if "the front-month TTF derivate settlement price exceeds EUR 275 for two weeks, and TTF prices are EUR 58 higher than the LNG reference price for 10 consecutive trading days within the two weeks".
Speaking at a summit of Visegrad Group (V4, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary) leaders in Kosice, Slovakia, on Thursday, Mateusz Morawiecki said that, "the high price of Russian gas is paid not only by citizens of Ukraine, but also the citizens of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, by all Europeans."
The prime minister went on to "call on the European Commission to use the instruments at its disposal very quickly”.
"What sort of procrastination is happening in Brussels?" he asked, adding that the proposed gas price was "definitely too high."
Earlier on Thursday, Anna Moskwa, Poland's climate and environment minister, said: "We treat this proposal (the EC's – PAP)... as a joke... It is difficult to approach it seriously."
Morawiecki also said that the V4 countries, along with Spain and Greece, had for months proposed a maximum price cap, "at a level acceptable to producers, and especially to gas users.
"In connection with that, we expect a much more decisive proposition on the part of the European Commission," he said.
Drawing attention to Europe's inflation crisis, which he blamed on Russia, Morawiecki called for the European Trading System of emissions allowances to be used.
"Let's freeze it at least for the coming two years at a level of twenty, thirty, thirty-something euro," he said. "It will be a huge relief for that difficult winter season which lies ahead for all Europeans."
