A total of 15 European Union (EU) member countries requested that the EU Commission prepare a plan to impose a price cap on imported natural gas late on Tuesday.
The energy ministers of France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia sent a jointly signed letter to Kadri Simson, the EU commissioner for Energy.
The letter was sent ahead of an extraordinary meeting of member state ministers in Brussels on Sept. 30 to discuss measures to address the energy crisis.
In the letter, the ministers underlined that a price cap would help every member state to mitigate inflationary pressure, manage the security of supply and provide a framework in case of potential supply disruptions.
"This cap is the priority," the letter read.
However, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark do not favor the idea of capping natural gas prices at this stage.
These countries argue that imposing a ceiling price on gas would put energy supply security at risk and harm natural gas supplies, especially in winter.
Reporting by Atat Ufuk Seker in Brussels
Writing by Zeynep Beyza Kilic
Anadolu Agency
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