UPDATE: EU energy ministers fail to agree on gas price limit

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BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST, Dec 13 (PRIME) -- E.U. energy ministers have failed to agree on a gas price limit at a meeting in Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday.

“There was a big discussion at the energy council, no agreement could be reached at the plenary session, so the continuation takes place bilaterally. Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela is chairing, I can only say to him too that the gas price limit is a bad idea,” he said.

Sikela said earlier in the day that the E.U. may postpone a decision on a gas price limit to December 19, if no agreement is struck at a meeting of the energy ministers.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said that the opinions and reservations among the E.U. states differed vastly on the issue, and the discussion would not be easy.

On November 22, the European Commission suggested setting the upper limit of the price of monthly gas futures under the TTF index at 275 euros per MWh. The Financial Times reported that after postponing the decision, the E.U. states were considering reducing the limit to 220 euros per MWh.

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