EU countries want to ease conditions for a proposed gas price cap to be triggered following criticism that the European Commission’s model was too strict, reported from EURACTIV.

The new set of amendments, circulated by Czechia, which currently holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, show a significant lowering of the thresholds needed to be met to trigger a price cap on Europe’s main gas trading hub.

The revised proposal significantly lowers the first trigger: the price of gas on the EU’s main gas trading hub, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF). This level has dropped from €275 per megawatt hour in the European Commission’s proposal, to €264 in a previous leak and now to €220 in the latest draft.

The second trigger – the number of days the price exceeds the level of the cap – has also been reduced from two weeks to five days.

The amendments also lower the threshold of the third trigger: the difference between the global liquified natural gas (LNG) price and the price of gas.

Even if the other two triggers are met, the price cap would only come into force if the difference between the Dutch TTF and the global LNG price is more than €35, down from €58 in the European Commission’s draft.

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