Spain Plans to Persuade Germany, Netherlands to Agree to Lower Gas Price Cap: Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will try to persuade his German and Dutch counterparts, Olaf Scholz and Mark Rutte, to agree to lower a gas price cap during the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, a Spanish news agency reported, citing sources in the Spanish government

Earlier in the day, media reported that the EU is trying to negotiate setting the gas price ceiling at 200 euros ($212), with a final agreement on the matter expected to be reached at a meeting of EU energy ministers on December 19, though there are still some divisions among member states, with countries like Germany and the Netherlands interested in imposing a higher price cap on gas.

According to the news agency, Sanchez will try to persuade both German and Dutch leaders to agree to lower the gas price ceiling and support a more dynamic approach toward this issue so as to curb price hikes in the European market.

In November, the European Commission proposed a price cap that would kick in if the front-month price on the Dutch gas exchange TTF, Europe's main natural gas futures market, exceeds 275 euros ($286) per MWh for two weeks and if, at the same time, TTF prices are 58 euros higher than the liquefied natural gas global reference price for 10 consecutive trading days.

On November 24, EU energy ministers, despite reaching an agreement on the joint gas procurement mechanism, failed to agree on the Commission's proposal for the gas price ceiling.

Earlier in the week, the ministers at an extraordinary meeting once again failed to agree on a mechanism for limiting gas price hikes; they will consider this issue on Monday.