The clash among the EU countries over a proposal to cap natural gas prices continues. Bloomberg reported that Belgium, Greece, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia urged to lower the price ceiling. The proposal came to EU energy ministers. The coalition of 11 countries has enough votes to block an agreement if its demands are not met. According to the EU plan, the gas market correction mechanism will kick in when the price exceeds €275 per megawatt hour ($3,000 per thousand cubic meters) for two weeks and the gap between world prices will be greater than €58 during 10 days on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The Czech government proposed to decrease the ceiling level to €220 and the gap to €35. However, the majority declined these conditions. In September 2022, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen suggested a price ceiling on gas imports. According to her, EU countries managed to fill gas storage facilities by 80% earlier than planned. On December 13, the EU energy ministers held an emergency meeting to try ironing out a deal on the measure. The previous meeting on November 24 did not lead to a consensus. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that it was impossible to agree upon the issue as many EU countries insisted on their views and did not consider other opinions.
