German Economy Minister, Robert Habeck, said on Tuesday that the “most efficient way” to lower the price of gas in the European Union was through joint purchases.
“Europe has great market power. If the big players are allowed to collaborate, to form purchasing pools, then Europe’s market power will have an impact,” he said arriving at a meeting of EU ministers in charge of energy in Luxembourg.
Habeck said additionally a dynamic price cap to prevent short-term “speculative spikes’’ on the stock markets would make sense,
EU leaders on October 29 backed a proposal by the European Commission for the legal basis on which gas-buying companies in the EU could aggregate their demand as well as for a cap on extreme gas price fluctuations.
Habeck also stressed that progress made in recent days to find a common position had already led to a lower wholesale price of gas.
dpa
