(Brussels) European leaders are expected to ask the Commission to make a proposal to cap the price of gas imports at a summit on Friday, to limit the price spike, according to a draft statement seen by AFP on Monday.
Posted yesterday at 2:48 p.m.
European Union countries were divided on the measure, with 15 of them – including France, Belgium, Italy and Spain – calling for the cap, while other countries including Germany were reluctant .
The declaration, still being negotiated before a summit of the leaders of the Twenty-Seven on Friday in Prague, invites the European Commission to work on “workable proposals to reduce prices via a cap on gas prices”.
This proposal is part of a series of measures that would constitute a “road map for the months to come”, according to the draft declaration.
The EU is trying to limit the spike in energy prices linked to the war launched by Russia in Ukraine to deal with the risks of social crisis and business bankruptcies as winter approaches.
European energy ministers had reached an agreement on Friday to return part of the “superprofits” of energy producers to households and businesses, but the idea of a cap came up against the reluctance of Germany, which feared that a price limitation threatens the supply of Europeans, by dissuading “reliable partners” from delivering gas to the EU, to the benefit of other destinations.
Berlin’s announcement of a massive 200 billion euro national support plan has drawn criticism from several leaders who fear unfair competition and fragmentation of the European single market, with not all states having the budgetary leeway. of Germany.