Bloomberg has learned that the EU will soon publish a plan to combat the energy crisis

The European Commission (EC) is going to publish a document with measures to combat the energy crisis on September 28, BLOOMBERG reports citing sources.

According to the agency, to contain the energy crisis, the EC plans to reduce market fluctuations, increase the liquidity of energy markets and reduce the cost of natural gas. In addition, the topic of combating the energy crisis, including limiting natural gas prices, may become one of the central topics at the informal meeting of EU leaders on October 7 in Prague and at the EU summit in Brussels on October 20-21.

According to Bloomberg, in September, the EC prepared an internal document analyzing possible issues to limit gas prices. The EC was considering possible financial control of the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub in the Netherlands. According to the EC, this will ensure a more efficient operation of the market with less volatility.

The rise in world electricity prices in Europe has been going on since the end of February, when the EU imposed sanctions against Moscow in response to the Russian special operation in Ukraine. This was followed by a decrease, and later a complete cessation of gas transportation through the Nord Stream, an increase in fossil fuel prices and record inflation. The situation in the European economy is complicated by severe drought in the central and southern parts of the region.

In some European countries, due to a sharp increase in gas prices and, as a result, electricity, production has decreased at factories, and many of them are on the verge of closing. In July, the EU member states agreed to cut gas consumption by 15% compared to the averages over the past five years from August 1 to March 31, 2023.

Moscow, in response to the restrictive measures of the West, transferred gas payments for unfriendly countries (the list of such states includes the entire EU) into rubles. After some countries, including Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and Bulgaria, refused to pay in Russian currency, Gazprom stopped deliveries. The HEAD of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, claimed at the end of July that a total of gas pumping was stopped in 12 EU countries.