The energy ministers of the European Union will meet in Brussels today to discuss the measures to be taken after Russia indefinitely stopped the flow of natural gas to the region. The meeting will focus on interventions to provide liquidity to energy markets, where margin calls are on the rise.
Authorities could also consider a proposal to cap the price of Russian gas imports - and possibly even liquefied natural gas - and suggest demand reduction targets. Earlier, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo warned that there would be dire economic consequences if Europe did not act immediately.
“In a few weeks the European economy will come to a complete standstill,” De Croo said. "Recovering from this will be much more difficult than intervening in the gas markets right now," he said.
"Price limit must be respected"
De Croo, who stated that the economy coming to a standstill would bring the risk of serious social unrest, said that if the European Union wanted to prevent production from stopping in its industries, the European Union should impose a wide price cap on gas trade in the block without delay.
On the other hand, individual measures continue to come from the countries of the region. The UK Treasury will set up a £40 billion fund with the Bank of England (BOE) to help energy companies access additional liquidity. Denmark will also provide 100 billion kronor ($13.5 billion) loan guarantees for energy companies. With the expectation that the meeting to be held today will result in a decision to intervene in the energy market, the benchmark gas futures prices, which fell to the lowest level since the beginning of August with a decrease of up to 8.3 percent yesterday morning, closed with an increase of 3 percent after De Croo's statements.
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