MNI: EU Czech Presidency Consulting On Emergency Energy Meet

The EU’s Czech presidency is consulting member states on whether to call an emergency meeting of energy ministers, an EU source said. “Nothing is confirmed so far regarding a meeting or possible dates, the Czech energy minister is conducting early stage consultations with member states,” an EU official told MNI.

Another source following EU energy policy developments said that the Czech presidency was “pushing” the idea and that any meeting would be mainly focused on capping gas prices. EU leaders called on the EU Commission to propose ways of capping gas prices at their June summit. The Commission’s work on gas price caps are understood to be ongoing.

The news follows Gazprom’s announcement that it would close Norsdtream 1 pipeline from August 31 to September 2 for maintenance. EU gas storage sources told MNI that the closure would not much impact plans to build EU stocks ahead of the winter, with Germany, for instance on track to meet its plans to fill storage capacity to 85% by October and 95% in November.