EP urges price cap on pipeline-delivered gas

The European Parliament is urging the European Commission to submit proposals on capping the price of natural gas delivered through pipelines from Russia, as well as an update of EU gas purchase regulations to curb the price of imported gas, the EP said late on Wednesday.

In a resolution passed at the plenary session on Wednesday, the EP called on member states to ensure that citizens failing to pay growing energy bills are not cut off from the services, and to strive to avoid the eviction of struggling households.

Meanwhile, energy companies making extra profits on high energy prices must contribute to curbing the fallout from the crisis, the resolution said. The EP welcomed the EC resolution introducing an emergency cap on revenues of companies with low operational costs.

The EP again called for a full embargo on imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas from Russia and for fully ending deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.

The EP group of ruling Fidesz responded by slamming Hungarian left-wing parties for “taking the side of sanctions again”.

MEP András Gyürk said in a statement the price cap on pipeline-delivered gas would be equivalent to new sanctions. Meanwhile, the EP’s “leftist liberal majority” is urging immediate embargoes on Russian energy imports, he said. Hungarian leftist parties agreed with those sanctions and continued to demand new ones, Gyürk added. “It has been proven that Hungarian people and companies grappling with the energy crisis caused by the sanctions can only count on the Fidesz-Christian Democrats,” he said.