The EU’s gas price cap

Key takeaways:

1. The gas price cap has been a thorny issue in the EU as governments have differing views on the concept, partly because of their varying reliance on natural gas imports and partly because of their stance in terms of interfering in market mechanisms.
2. First, the EU member states could not agree on the concept itself, then, once they agreed on that, the focus turned to the level of the cap and the conditions that would trigger it.
3. The cap is one of the emergency measures the EU is seeking to alleviate the burden of high gas prices on its economy, households and businesses.
4. Price spikes are normal during winter due to cold weather spells.