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Austria not ready to support Russian gas price cap now

Leonore Gewessler added that she could not imagine how it would be possible to impose a price ceiling on gas from Russia without jeopardizing the security of fuel supplies to Austria

BRUSSELS, September 9. /TASS/. Austria cannot support the initiative to introduce a price cap on Russian gas now, the country’s Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology Leonore Gewessler said on Friday.

"This is a painful situation for Austria and for me. We were able to reduce our dependence on Russian gas from 80% to less than 50%. But we are still dependent. Therefore, we cannot support this proposal now," she said.

The minister added that she could not imagine how it would be possible to impose a price ceiling on gas from Russia without jeopardizing the security of fuel supplies to Austria. According to her, Vienna is working to diversify supplies, reduce energy consumption and increase the share of renewable energy sources. "But we are not there yet. Therefore, contingency plans have been readied for all cases, even a complete shutdown of supplies from Russia," Gewessler said, adding that various consequences were taken into account, including rising unemployment and poverty levels.

European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen announced at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday that she had decided to submit a proposal to set a price ceiling for Russian gas for consideration by the EU Council. According to Politico, the European Commission wants to cap the price for Russian gas in the European Union at 50 euro per megawatt-hour, or roughly 520 euro per 1,000 cubic meters of gas.

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