Energy ministers from EU member states agreed on Monday that the mechanism to limit gas prices will be activated when the price reaches 180 euros per megawatt hour and 35 euros above the reference price of LNG for three consecutive days, according to diplomatic sources.
Hungary was the only country against this cap, Austria and the Netherlands were abstained, while Germany supported it. All these countries had previously opposed market intervention in gas and price caps.
Consensus is not required for the decision, but a qualified majority is sufficient, meaning that 55 percent of member states, or 15 of them, which make up at least 65 percent of the total population of the Union, needed to support it.
The mechanism will be able to be activated from February 15 of next year.
Energy ministers were unable to agree on gas price limits at their meeting last week, as the proposal from the Commission, which set the price cap too high, was unacceptable for most member states. The European Commission proposed at the end of November the establishment of a corrective market mechanism that would be activated when the price on the Dutch gas exchange (TTF) is above 275 euros per megawatt hour for two weeks and 58 euros higher than the reference price of LNG for ten consecutive days over two weeks.
The Czech presidency came to the meeting with a new proposal under which the mechanism would be activated when the gas price reaches 188 euros per megawatt hour over a period of three days.
