The Czech Republic, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, is considering whether to call an emergency energy summit for the bloc to tackle soaring power prices, including discussing price caps, a government minister said on Wednesday.
The EU is facing a surge in energy prices to record highs, leaving governments scrambling to find ways to help households and businesses feeling the impact.
“The market has gotten out of control to a certain extent, market volatility stops reacting to good news and only bad news accumulates and pushes prices up,” Czech Industry Minster Jozef Sikela was quoted by CTK news agency as saying on Wednesday.
“It is a problem in all of Europe, and of course if you have a European market and European problem, then the easiest solution can be found on the European level.”
Sikela said setting a maximum price on the European level would be one possible measure, and that the Czech Republic would support this if the EU decided to look at this.
Europe is facing a sharp rise in power bills driven by sky-rocketing gas prices, as war in Ukraine and European sanctions on Russia heighten concerns over the security of gas supplies.
The Czech government is looking at implementing a discount energy tariff for households while other EU states have also turned to measures like price caps or cash handouts to help people hurt by soaring utility costs.
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