The demand for a price cap for gas imports into the European Union is not coming to an end.

In a joint letter, 15 member states, including France, Spain and Italy, have recently asked the European Commission to finally submit proposals on how the price for importing pipeline gas and liquefied gas can be limited.

The EU could no longer accept that the EU was paying up to ten times the prices of the United States and twice the prices in Asia.

The Commission, which, like Germany, has always been skeptical about this, remains unimpressed.

In a 16-page discussion paper that she sent to the member states on Wednesday evening, she urgently warned against a gas price cap.

A gas price cap harbors the great danger that demand will increase without solving the underlying shortage problem, according to the paper that is available to the FAZ.

Eventually, this could result in the pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) so desperately needed in the EU then flowing elsewhere.

The Commission warns that a severe and sudden interruption in gas supplies then represents an asymmetric risk for security of supply.

In response, the EU must therefore intervene even more than previously planned to reduce demand in other ways.

In case of doubt, this also includes the rationing of gas.

The price cap would also have negative consequences for cross-border gas trading within the EU, the Commission warns.

If the same price applies everywhere, there would no longer be any market incentive to trade gas between countries in the event of an acute gas shortage.

Therefore, a political decision must then be made as to how and according to which criteria the imported gas will then be distributed to the Member States and ultimately also to the end customers.

State control is not an alternative to the market

Such a state-directed distribution of gas flows entails an enormous administrative burden, because the state has to take on the role of the various sub-markets of the electricity market, which are adjusted to the fluctuations in consumption from day to day and hour to hour.

"Currently there is no body at EU level that has the necessary experience and technical skills to take on this task," it said.

The Commission is therefore at best open to a price cap on Russian pipeline gas, as proposed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen two weeks ago.

The consequences of such a price cap would be manageable because deliveries from Russia have already fallen sharply.

However, this has met with little support from the Member States.

In addition, Brussels wants to lower the gas price within a “reasonable time frame” through negotiations with “friendly” LNG and gas suppliers, above all Norway.

Furthermore, the EU Commission is again promoting bundling the purchase of gas.

"Joint sourcing would increase EU solidarity in gas sourcing and distribution because Member States would then have equal access to new or additional gas sources and would reduce the risk of overbidding each other."

Gas price cap for electricity production

At one point, however, the EU Commission is definitely making a U-turn.

In order to limit the effects of high gas prices on the electricity market, it is bringing into play a gas price cap for electricity production, as already introduced in Spain and Portugal.

Producers would then have to pay less than the market price for gas.

According to the paper, the difference between the cap imposed and the market price for gas can be financed from the levy on special profits for electricity producers, which is to be passed on Friday.

The Commission is apparently also reacting to French pressure.

That was exactly what she had advertised to the federal government in Berlin last week.

However, she emphasizes that this should not result in electricity prices falling and then consumption increasing.