The EU intends to announce a tender for the supply of gas in April in an attempt to lower energy prices, Deputy President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic said, reported from Bloomberg.

After the tender is launched in April, the EU expects the first contracts with suppliers from the US to the Middle East and Africa to be signed around June.

"We clearly need to turn the economic tide in Europe,” Sefcovic said in an interview. "I believe we’re creating a new system that will increase competition and bring in new suppliers and push energy prices down. Since we started this exercise, there’s enormous interest from international suppliers.”

On the supply side, more than 50 companies from around the globe are interested in engaging with Europe via the energy platform, according to Sefcovic.

"I’m very much against any complacency or feeling that the tough times of last year are over because we don’t know what this year has in store for us,” Sefcovic said. "What is increasingly important is that we have to deal with prices. We can’t power our economy at such a huge price differential compared with the US or China.”

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