BRUSSELS, Sept 27 (Reuters) – A group of 15 European Union countries is urging Brussels to present a plan this week to cap gas prices in the European Union, a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed.
The Union has proposed a series of measures that are supposed to stem the rise in energy prices, but it has not capped gas prices, a solution that has provoked intense debate among the Twenty-Seven.
In a letter addressed to the European Commission, the fifteen countries ask the European executive to propose a cap on gas prices during the emergency meeting of energy ministers, scheduled for Friday.
“We recognize the efforts made by the Commission and the measures it has proposed to overcome the crisis. But the most important problem still needs to be resolved: the wholesale prices of natural gas”, says the courier sent Kadri Simson, the energy commissioner.
The letter was signed by ministers from 15 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. (Gabriela Baczynska; French version Nicolas Delame)