Some EU countries are behaving in a 'very selfish way' to tackle energy crisis, says Polish PM
Some European Union member states are behaving in a "very selfish way" to tackle the energy crisis, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said in an interview with Euronews.
His critical comments come as EU energy ministers failed once again to approve a stalled proposal to impose the first-ever cap on gas prices.
Poland is one of the leading proponents of the price cap, together with Greece, Belgium, Italy and Malta.
Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Estonia and Luxembourg are considered to be highly sceptical about the untested measure, worrying security of supplies could be endangered.
Discussions are focusing, among other issues, on how high or how low the cap should be set: the European Commission initially proposed €275 per megawatt-hour. This infuriated the pro-cap faction, who prefers a range somewhere around €200, a level rejected by the anti-cap group.
"Some countries, which have to deal with this crisis from the point of view of the prices of gas and the prices of oil, do this in a very, very selfish way. They do not see the bigger picture," Morawiecki told Euronews on Wednesday evening.
"The cap on gas prices should be found somewhere in the middle of our expectations and some expectations of Germany and the Netherlands and the others. However, the way how they stubbornly blocked this (proposal) is to me quite worrisome because I believe that we are still far from finding a compromise on the gas price cap."
Morawiecki urged his fellow leaders to move beyond their political differences and strike a "common denominator" than can prevent the record-breaking prices seen over the summer.
"We are expecting the European Commission to be more brave and more decisive in finding an appropriate level of gas
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